always him
by angelamb12
Summary: Was Glimmer pree really the selfish, blood thirsty career every body thought she was? Or was she just a young girl not meant to be in the hunger games. PS sorry about chapter 2; I'm still trying to figure out how to put on more chapters after chapter 1 just skip to chapter 3
1. Chapter 1

This is the my side of the story of the hunger games for all those Katniss and Peeta fans out there.

I wake up to the usual soft silky blanket and the lovely feathery pillows. The soft tinkle of my alarm chimes beside me. I know what day it is, it's the Reaping. I make a small movement to get up but can't be bothered and fall back asleep. 15 minutes later I sigh and force myself to get dressed.

"Hmm" I say quietly,"what shall I wear today, the pink gown or green dress. So many choices" I think, in the end I go with the gown, pink beats green any day. I walk to the small tea table and pick up a jam tart and muffin.

"MUFFINS" I whine, "We had this three days ago! Seriously I live in district 1 A.K.A the richest district in Panem, shouldn't I get some variety of breakfast? I eat the muffin grumpily.

"Come on your late for your defense lesson." Said mum hurriedly as I wandered down the cold marble stairs. "Are you ready yet

"Yep" I said miserably "I'm sick of these stupid defense lessons it's not like I really need them, I'm never going to be drawn because I've never deliberately put my name in the draw!" I didn't tell her about the time I put my name in cos my friends double dog dared me to.

"Also there's a parcel that just arrived this morning," she continued waving her hand towards a large wrapped gift on the table.

"Ooo" I said excitedly running [or waddling] in my pink lace gown until I reached the present. I gave it a quick shake like I always did to guess what was inside but instead of a rattle or clank of what a usual gift would sound like there was a yelp. I knowing what might be inside I ripped the wrapping paper of and opened the lid. Inside I found a fluffy little ball of fluff and a note, only the cutest little pup for the sweetest little girl it said. As soon as I saw that present I kind of predicted that it was my boy friend that sent it but seriously! A box of chocolates would be more than enough not a dog, in fact dogs are supposed to be something that fetch a ball or round up sheep not a little pile of fluff that does no more than eat, sleep and poop!

"Ooo a puppy!" squeals my little sister Spark. "I bet it's from your boy-friend she said teasingly and lifting the dog from my arms.

"Ready sweetie?" mum said sweetly, she was so obviously her favorite daughter.

"Yep" said Spark much more enthusiastically than I did.

I've always dreaded Sundays, the day I go to defense lesson. It's because mum's always paranoid that I'll be drawn out at the reaping and have to go into the Hunger Games with no experience and die. That's the thing I hate the most about my family and friends, they think I'm the most delicate thing on earth and couldn't even hurt a fly, well I think I could take on anyone right now if I wanted to. My dad's the owner this company called the C.B.M [couches, beds and more] and is one of the richest men in district 1. I meet up with Cou short for couch [my boy friend] outside the building, waiting, as usual.

"Hey" he said giving me a soft hug "Did you like the present I got you?"

"" Cou I said slowly "I know your dad's rich and works in the best furniture company, but my dad is just as rich and can by cute dogs just as cute as Bicci [Spark's name for him] and also you don't have to lavish me with gifts cos I already know you love me. Before he could say anything the siren signaling start of lesson chimed and we had to go inside. As all the students bustled into their classrooms, we got a few stares from the other kids. I looked up and Cou had a huge grin of smugness across his face and was around my waist, this really mad me annoyed because it seemed as if he was showing of! The lesson was extra brutal today since it was the day of the reaping, it was the toughest school and it was also the most expensive of any other in Panem so only people with rich daddies like me could go to such a school.

Finally the time had come for the reaping, ever since I was a child I found it nerve wrecking heading into the large stadium and praying my tab wouldn't be fished out. This time I didn't feel nervous at all, probably because it was the last year of the reaping and the odds would be extremely against my favor if I were to be drawn.

"Ladies and gentle men" Winty Snigg's voice boomed over the chatter of nervous children. "Welcome to the 74th annual Hunger Games and may the odds ever be in your favor! She started telling us about the tradition and history of the games and I pretty much tuned out for the whole speech. By the time she started with the draw it was an hour and a half later.

"Ladies first!" she sang skipping over to the huge bowl.

"It's okay, she won't pick you" whispered Cou.

"I never thought she would!" I hissed.

"Kitty Lauren!" she chirped tapping her long pink false nails. Kitty Lauren, where had I heard that name before? I breathed out a shaky breath realizing she was one of my friends in kindergarten.

"Any volunteers?" called Winty trotting over to help kitty on stage.

"I volunteer!" I said in a surprisingly brave voice.

"Oh goody!" she sang calling me up.

"No what are you doing!" said Cou "Why did you do that"

"I don't know, she's my friend I guess," I said automatically making my way up on stage.

"And what is your name?"

"Glimmer Pree" I said, concentrating on keeping a straight face and steady voice.

"Just wait here, glimmer and we'll see who is the boy tribute is." I looked at Cou, he was looking at me to, and in fact he was staring at me with his mouth half open. I raised my eyebrows, with my "Are you going to help me" face.

"Gerdal per-uh"

"I volunteer!" shouted a voice in the middle of the crowd. Wow he's desperate I thought, Winty hadn't even finished speaking.

"Err ok here's district boy, I guess" she continued. I looked back at Cou and gave him a pleading look to rescue me.

"Wha-?" I gasped, he was backing away why would he do that? Before I could do or say anything he was gone, swallowed up in the crowd. I felt my fists clench as the anger rose inside of me, now I was glad I volunteered; now I could see his true colors and he was nothing but a traitor who cared about nothing but himself. I managed to force a smile on my face as I shook hands with the tribute Marvel Halt and kept my face calm as I was walked in the tribute building. The cameras followed us in so there was no space for me to even sigh without everyone knowing that all this was just a huge mistake. My face lit up into a grin as my worried family rushed in.

"Oh my darling" my mum sobbed and gave me a hug.

"Mum I won't get many sponsors if you keep this up" I hissed into her ear as she was hugging me. Through her tears and pain she was able to compose her face into a convincing look of pride. My sister and father caught on pretty quick.

"Don't go" Spark sobbed in my ear. "I'll miss you", her voice broke.

"I'll miss you to. I promise I'll come back, trust me." I didn't know what I was doing when I made that promise but I realized that I had to keep it no matter what. My father came up and hugged me. As he did he slipped a ring in my hand.

"It'll protect you in the games" he whispered in my ear.

"No dad don't" I said and pushed it back in his hand.

"Glimmer, just take it" He closed my hand round it and stepped back.

"You have one last visitor," said the peacekeeper, "Her name is Sindra Halt". My family backed out the room to let a young lady with dark orange hair to come in.

"Hello Glimmer" She said quietly, her eyes staring at the carpet. "I came here to tell you about Marvel".

"Why" I said confused at what shed have to do with him. "He's in the other room if yo-"

"I'm his sister," she said quickly cutting me off. She looked up and I could clearly see the resemblance. "He's my brother so he tells every thing"

"Everything?

"Yup and he just told me why he volunteered, Because of you


	2. Chapter 2

This is the my side of the story of the hunger games for all those Katniss and Peeta fans out there.

I wake up to the usual soft silky blanket and the lovely feathery pillows. The soft tinkle of my alarm chimes beside me. I know what day it is, it's the Reaping. I make a small movement to get up but can't be bothered and fall back asleep. 15 minutes later I sigh and force myself to get dressed.

"Hmm" I say quietly,"what shall I wear today, the pink gown or green dress. So many choices" I think, in the end I go with the gown, pink beats green any day. I walk to the small tea table and pick up a jam tart and muffin.

"MUFFINS" I whine, "We had this three days ago! Seriously I live in district 1 A.K.A the richest district in Panem, shouldn't I get some variety of breakfast? I eat the muffin grumpily.

"Come on your late for your defense lesson." Said mum hurriedly as I wandered down the cold marble stairs. "Are you ready yet

"Yep" I said miserably "I'm sick of these stupid defense lessons it's not like I really need them, I'm never going to be drawn because I've never deliberately put my name in the draw!" I didn't tell her about the time I put my name in cos my friends double dog dared me to.

"Also there's a parcel that just arrived this morning," she continued waving her hand towards a large wrapped gift on the table.

"Ooo" I said excitedly running [or waddling] in my pink lace gown until I reached the present. I gave it a quick shake like I always did to guess what was inside but instead of a rattle or clank of what a usual gift would sound like there was a yelp. I knowing what might be inside I ripped the wrapping paper of and opened the lid. Inside I found a fluffy little ball of fluff and a note, only the cutest little pup for the sweetest little girl it said. As soon as I saw that present I kind of predicted that it was my boy friend that sent it but seriously! A box of chocolates would be more than enough not a dog, in fact dogs are supposed to be something that fetch a ball or round up sheep not a little pile of fluff that does no more than eat, sleep and poop!

"Ooo a puppy!" squeals my little sister Spark. "I bet it's from your boy-friend she said teasingly and lifting the dog from my arms.

"Ready sweetie?" mum said sweetly, she was so obviously her favorite daughter.

"Yep" said Spark much more enthusiastically than I did.

I've always dreaded Sundays, the day I go to defense lesson. It's because mum's always paranoid that I'll be drawn out at the reaping and have to go into the Hunger Games with no experience and die. That's the thing I hate the most about my family and friends, they think I'm the most delicate thing on earth and couldn't even hurt a fly, well I think I could take on anyone right now if I wanted to. My dad's the owner this company called the C.B.M [couches, beds and more] and is one of the richest men in district 1. I meet up with Cou short for couch [my boy friend] outside the building, waiting, as usual.

"Hey" he said giving me a soft hug "Did you like the present I got you?"

"" Cou I said slowly "I know your dad's rich and works in the best furniture company, but my dad is just as rich and can by cute dogs just as cute as Bicci [Spark's name for him] and also you don't have to lavish me with gifts cos I already know you love me. Before he could say anything the siren signaling start of lesson chimed and we had to go inside. As all the students bustled into their classrooms, we got a few stares from the other kids. I looked up and Cou had a huge grin of smugness across his face and was around my waist, this really mad me annoyed because it seemed as if he was showing of! The lesson was extra brutal today since it was the day of the reaping, it was the toughest school and it was also the most expensive of any other in Panem so only people with rich daddies like me could go to such a school.

Finally the time had come for the reaping, ever since I was a child I found it nerve wrecking heading into the large stadium and praying my tab wouldn't be fished out. This time I didn't feel nervous at all, probably because it was the last year of the reaping and the odds would be extremely against my favor if I were to be drawn.

"Ladies and gentle men" Winty Snigg's voice boomed over the chatter of nervous children. "Welcome to the 74th annual Hunger Games and may the odds ever be in your favor! She started telling us about the tradition and history of the games and I pretty much tuned out for the whole speech. By the time she started with the draw it was an hour and a half later.

"Ladies first!" she sang skipping over to the huge bowl.

"It's okay, she won't pick you" whispered Cou.

"I never thought she would!" I hissed.

"Kitty Lauren!" she chirped tapping her long pink false nails. Kitty Lauren, where had I heard that name before? I breathed out a shaky breath realizing she was one of my friends in kindergarten.

"Any volunteers?" called Winty trotting over to help kitty on stage.

"I volunteer!" I said in a surprisingly brave voice.

"Oh goody!" she sang calling me up.

"No what are you doing!" said Cou "Why did you do that"

"I don't know, she's my friend I guess," I said automatically making my way up on stage.

"And what is your name?"

"Glimmer Pree" I said, concentrating on keeping a straight face and steady voice.

"Just wait here, glimmer and we'll see who is the boy tribute is." I looked at Cou, he was looking at me to, and in fact he was staring at me with his mouth half open. I raised my eyebrows, with my "Are you going to help me" face.

"Gerdal per-uh"

"I volunteer!" shouted a voice in the middle of the crowd. Wow he's desperate I thought, Winty hadn't even finished speaking.

"Err ok here's district boy, I guess" she continued. I looked back at Cou and gave him a pleading look to rescue me.

"Wha-?" I gasped, he was backing away why would he do that? Before I could do or say anything he was gone, swallowed up in the crowd. I felt my fists clench as the anger rose inside of me, now I was glad I volunteered; now I could see his true colors and he was nothing but a traitor who cared about nothing but himself. I managed to force a smile on my face as I shook hands with the tribute Marvel Halt and kept my face calm as I was walked in the tribute building. The cameras followed us in so there was no space for me to even sigh without everyone knowing that all this was just a huge mistake. My face lit up into a grin as my worried family rushed in.

"Oh my darling" my mum sobbed and gave me a hug.

"Mum I won't get many sponsors if you keep this up" I hissed into her ear as she was hugging me. Through her tears and pain she was able to compose her face into a convincing look of pride. My sister and father caught on pretty quick.

"Don't go" Spark sobbed in my ear. "I'll miss you", her voice broke.

"I'll miss you to. I promise I'll come back, trust me." I didn't know what I was doing when I made that promise but I realized that I had to keep it no matter what. My father came up and hugged me. As he did he slipped a ring in my hand.

"It'll protect you in the games" he whispered in my ear.

"No dad don't" I said and pushed it back in his hand.

"Glimmer, just take it" He closed my hand round it and stepped back.

"You have one last visitor," said the peacekeeper, "Her name is Sindra Halt". My family backed out the room to let a young lady with dark orange hair to come in.

"Hello Glimmer" She said quietly, her eyes staring at the carpet. "I came here to tell you about Marvel".

"Why" I said confused at what shed have to do with him. "He's in the other room if yo-"

"I'm his sister," she said quickly cutting me off. She looked up and I could clearly see the resemblance. "He's my brother so he tells every thing"

"Everything?

"Yup and he just told me why he volunteered, Because of you.

"Wha" I said not really being able to take the news in.

"Well you know how your one of the prettiest girls in district 1 and every thing" she continued "He had a crush on you since kindergarten and he also knew kitty as one of his longest dearest friends. So when you took the place for her he knew you had a very kind heart and instantly fell in love with you. He told me his only dream now is to bring you home safely."

"Rubbish!" I cut her off "I hardly even know Marvel! Yeah where in the same school and live close by but we hardly even talk to each other. I stood there and let the peacekeepers drag the sobbing girl out of the room. I huffed and fiddled with the poisoned pin, she was definatley tricking me into being too in love to kill Marvel.

Even though the train was so close to the justice building the two of still had to go in a special tribute carriage driven by two peacekeepers as a large crowd followed us there. We were shown to our rooms and left to shower and dress for dinner. I left the old gown on the bed and got a blue dress with frills from top to bottom [It also had matching hat and shoes.] Dinner was in the main carriage of the train decorated with crystal chandeliers and plush sofas.

"Where's our mentor? Asked Marvel while we ate our roast turkey and orange pie.

"She doesn't want to see you yet" replied Winty pretending not to care. "Okay so tonight you two will be watching the other districts being drawn out of the reaping and tomorrow night you will be studying previous hunger games and their different battle tactics." She said reading from an electronic organizer the size of her palm.

"Okay" I said not really listening. We finished dinner and headed for the lounge room and started watching a repeat of today.

I stifled a yawn as I watched the last reaping of the day, district 12.

Primrose Everdeen! Effie Trinket called [A Pale lady with way to much makeup and a crappy pink wig.] A young, small girl stiffly walked up on the stage.

"No Primrose stop I volunteer! She screamed.

"No Katniss don't!" the young girl cried trying to pull her back. I stared horrified at the screen this was different to the stuff district 12 usually do and it made me let out a faint croak of sorrow which is a very hard thing to make me do. Marvel, who was sitting next to me, heard it and put his arm round me in comfort… Big mistake. I stood up abruptly which made him follow he had that innocent clueless face that you get on puppies when they chew up all your shoes. I did the best and easiest trick in defense class, tripped him with my leg and put my hand on his neck so he fell on the ground.

"What did I do" Marvel choked pushing at my hand to breath.

"Why did you do that"? I said loosing my grip on him.

"I was comforting you, you were sad" He stood up rubbing his neck.

"Oh…oops" I hurried out of the room extremely embarrassed with myself.

"Hmm…Finished!" my prep team [Glory, Marten and Crimson] sang in unison and laughed together, I couldn't help but laugh as well.

"All you needed was a little hair clip and lippy because you were already so beautiful." Glory sighed.

"Gosh you should see some of the people that come here" he continued "It's like they've never seen an ultra curling and shortening comb before!" she continued in disgust. I smiled because they were acting a bit silly over unimportant stuff.

"That's the spirit"! Martin cheered clapping his hands not knowing what I was actually smiling about.

"And that's the smile that will win you the sponsors you want" said Crimson looking over her half moon spectacles and smiling her own gorgeous smile.

Martin touched my hair and sighed, "I want to have your hair" he whined

"Why don't you just die your hair that color?" said Glory waving her hand carelessly.

"We've been through this I don't believe in tampering with hair," he growled.

"I'm with you on that one" said Crimson raising her hand and looking up from her checklist. When you become a stylist your whole life is based around make up and beauty, Glory had her hair tied up into lots of tiny buns around her head which I had never seen done before and Martin had blonde hair that was shaved into an H and G. these guys were really obsessed and serious about fashion… even though I love beauty just as much as them… that was kinda sad.

"Guys can you just call Cypins or whatever his name is-"

"Cypress" they said cutting me off and looking me with the "oh my god how can you not know her name" glare.

"Before I could glare at them back the door flew open and a lady with blonde hair like mine and green dress came in. She waved the others off and they hurried out the door.

"Good their gone" the lady said slumping into the couch and crossing her legs.

"Hi" I said shyly and took an involuntary step back. Forget the prep team this lady was the mother of all fashion possessors, her eye lashes were curled up and dyed pink, she had nails that changed color every few seconds and you could tell she'd had plastic surgery to make her eye brows curl at the ends.

"What's your name dear?" she asked getting up and studying me closely.

"Err Glimmer" I said stupidly forgetting.

"Okay I've got your outfit sorted so all we need to do is your hair and makeup." She leaned back and pursed her lips. This lady was scary, the way she talked and looked, I felt like grabbing my stuff and running out the door.

"Hmm where to start"

After hours of fitting brushing and well pain I was dressed and ready in a Shiny silver diamond carriage in a thin wavy gown sewn with diamonds and precious gems, my hair floated down in beautiful golden ringlets as well. Caesar Flickermans voice boomed for the first carriage to come forward. I looked at Marvel beside me, his face was pale as snow and he was shaking like hell. Instead of doing the same as him I lifted my head and smiled to face the roaring crowd. Marvel cottoned on quickly and did the same. The crowd cheered and threw roses and hats at us and the other districts came out. Silence swept over the crowd, they stopped cheering and their faces were glued to something behind us. I glanced behind me and saw the most amazing sight

"Crap!" I hissed it was just our luck that on my parade district 12 finds some way to make harmless fire and win the crowds attention. Plus their holding their holding hands like good old mates who AREN'T gonna kill each other. I felt something nudge my hand and looked down and Marvel made a sad attempt to hold my hand but I yanked it away. For the rest of the show we were ignored completely as the cameras showed the faces of fire girl and boy, the longer it went the more hatred and anger bubbled up in me.

I was so relieved when the carriage stopped, I let my smile go and slumped onto the floor. I tore hair pins off and the beads skittered across the floor. I watched one roll across the stable ground until it hit someone's boot, I looked up and it was the blonde boy called Cato from district 2. He looked just as mad as me about the parade he started walking towards me with the same hard blank expression but quickly turned a bit and passed me but also handed me piece of paper. I watched him as he went around the carriage and out the door, I followed him out and headed to my room . On the way I saw Marvel outside my door twirling a piece of paper.

"You got one?" he said waving the sheet

"Yep I said staring at my shoes and avoiding eye contact. I looked at it quickly to see what it could say.

"Gah" I gasped, On it, in rushed hand writing it said, **WILL YOU JOIN THE CAREERS?**

"What is it are you Okay" He said putting a hand on my shoulder to hug me. It was tempting to punch him a run but instead I kept my cool and nodded.

"Are you sure you look a bit angry-."

"Do I Marvel, do I because if you realized we just got thrashed by those two district 12s and I hate it!" I went into a fit of shrieking of and crying until I was on my hands and knees gasping for air. Marvel grabbed my arms before I could start again.

"Ssh Glimmer the peacekeepers will hear you!" he said wiping my tears with his sleeve.

"I hate losing," I said childishly.

"I know" he said softly "everyone does, its fine" I started to calm down and nodded in agreement. I gave him a friendly hug and we sat in silence against the wall for a minute. I was about to get up and stretch my legs when he grabbed my hands. I looked at him about to yank them free when he kissed me. Even though Cou and many previous boy friends had kissed me none had felt like that time. I sighed and kissed him back, I was confused and tired and didn't know what I was doing.

"Wow" I thought, "Romance and the hunger games, heh that's a weird combination" And that's when it hit me. I realized what I was doing and whom I was doing it with. I pulled away sharply.

"What was that?" I said climbing to my feet.

"What do you mean? I kissed you and you kissed me back!"

"True" I thought but instead I said, "Did not" and stalked into my room.

We were woken up early the next day and marched into a large building to the top floor of the building. We entered into a small room with two chairs and I was told to sit in the smaller chair and wait.

"What for?" I asked the friendlier looking peacekeeper

"Cliffia" he said and shut the door. Cliffia, she was the mentor for last year's games.

"OH!" I thought "And they came second in last years, but got beaten by some smart ass who got a lucky shot with a brick and his head." I would have kept thinking about past victors if the door didn't open.

"Hello Glimmer" said a sweet soft voice through the crack in the door.

"Cliffia?" I said wearily judging the waters. The door opened wider and a tall dark haired lady came in who I instantly recognized to be her. A wave of disappointment hit me full in the face. Of course it was Cliffia anybody would know that but she wasn't the happy young person who got interviewed by Cesar in the 71st annual hunger games. Her brow was creased into deep lines and she had dark bagged eyes. I gasped in horror before I could stop myself.

"Mm" she said and sat down on the opposite chair. She was so skinny that she took up only half of the chair.

"Glimmer I organize this meeting for all my tributes" she said. "And you must listen to everything I say very carefully so that you know what's coming."

"Okay" was the only word I could manage.

"Well as every one knows I was in the hunger games because I chose to be." She said, "Well, just like all the other careers that had ever made the choice to volunteer for the hunger games" She took a deep breath "I figured that it was the worst decision anybody could ever make.

"But why would you say that you won!" I said.

"Yes but do you Know how I did it" Cliffia said. "I killed someone. Now that was the second worst choice I had ever made" she lowered her "I just wished some one could have been there to tell me what was coming!" her voice broke but she didn't cry".

"What do you mean what was coming" I asked very confused on where this conversation was going.

"Well I didn't know it then but the very night after the games were finished I realized what I had done and the guilt has stayed with me ever since then." She took a deep breath and continued. "See Glimmer what I am telling you is there are consequences to winning, sometimes I think it would've been better to have died in the arena than to face the pain I have now.

"I disagree," I said "I believe that you should take your luck for granted and be happy you got to see your family again. You should be proud you killed him; he was going to kill you if you didn't kill him first anyway"

"Ohh all my tributes say that but none of them understand how it feels to not want to sleep at night and be haunted by the dreams of the deaths you caused. She wailed. "Darling I'm just telling you there's a choice, you can die and not see your family or loved ones again, or you could kill and win the games but be haunted every last second of your life by the life you killed!

"I'm getting back to district 1 whatever it takes" I said "No matter what the consequences!" She didn't try to stop me when I swept out the room.

The rest of the day was dedicated to tough work and learning at the training center. Since I was the latest there because I had a talk with Cliffia every body was already there when I arrived. I could see the careers group so I headed there first.

"Hey guys," I said

"Glimmer! There you are" said Cato giving me a high five. "So I guess you agreed to join?"

"Join what" I said stupidly stunned by his charms.

"You know the allies thing I gave you"

"Ohh yeah sure" I said the memory coming back to me. My fists clenched as I saw Marvel standing in the back of the team looking at the floor.

"Woo another member to the team!" The district 4 member said a bit over enthusiastically.

"Lets do the archery first," said Clove "My mentor Viara recommended it best for the stealth attack.

"Better than my mentor", I complained, "All she ever told me to do is die and don't bother." They all stared at me in shock.

"Hah!" Marvel snorted, "That's not as bad as fire girl and guy over there, their mentor does nothing but drink. My mentor said that the only thing he ever said to those two was "Don't die!"

"Heh I have to admit, that's probably the worst mentor on earth" I laughed "Those two don't stand a chance with him!"

"We practiced until lunch break which was lamb stew.

"Eww!" said Clove "I hate lamb stew! This is probably what district 12 eat not us!"

"Hahaha Peeta you're so hilarious!" giggled a voice. I looked over to other tables to see whose it was.

"Gosh look at those two!" said clove disgustedly. We all followed her gaze to a far away table where Katniss and Peeta where sitting by themselves smiling and laughing together."

"They're talking as if they aren't going to be killing each other in a matter of days!" said Marvel.

"Guys they're district twelve they probably to stupid to even know what the reaping is" said Cato ignoring the lot.

"I don't know she seemed to know a lot when she volunteered for her sister back then," I said.

"Aww that was sweet" said Clove "But it doesn't change the fact that she's still going down!" The group cheered and agreed with her. After lunch we headed straight for the spear throwing.

"Grr" I complained after countless attempts at throwing it correctly.

"Aww don't beat yourself up about it, you can have dibs on the arrows, you were great at them!" Said Cato giving me a smile.

"Thanks Cato, you're a nice guy" I hugged him and went back to practicing. I decided I would just sit down and watch the others practice. I concentrated on the technique that Marvel used, arrow straight, arm strong. His arm shot forward so fast sending the spear whizzing through the air hitting the board right on target. I watched his body positions and aim a few more times. I looked at his footing, then his arms and then his face. Oops! I realized he was staring at me staring at him and stood up walking into the restrooms. I stood there completely still for a few seconds. So embarrassing. I splashed my face with water. Doesn't matter, all that matters are the games, I thought to myself.

"Hey! That's my knife!" shouted another tribute bringing me back to my senses.

"What? No it isn't!" said another one.

"Yes it is I left it right there and you took it!" growled the first. I ran out the room and saw Cato with another tribute fighting over a knife.

"Give it back!" Cato snarled lunging for it.

"It's mine!" said the other boy holding it out of his reach. Every one here had seen Cato in training so that kid had a lot of nerve to talk like that. Cato was about to punch him in the stomach before peacekeepers came and pulled them off of each other.

"When were in the arena I'm gonna kill you myself!" He threatened. The boy gulped and backed away into the group of armed peacekeepers. Cato turned on his heal and walked away; he caught my eye as he went and passed me into the restrooms.

"Cato" Clove breathed and ran after him. I really wanted to follow her in there and comfort Cato but at the same time I wanted to give them some privacy. I waited outside the door for a few minutes for them to come out but curiosity got the best of me and I had to go in. I peeked behind the wall and saw Cato leaning against one of the sinks and Clove hugging him.

"It's like I'm not me anymore." Said Cato darkly "It's hard to explain but I feel…"

"Different" finished Clove "I know" she soothed.

"I feel like I have no one there for me as a friend or more than that" Cato leaned into his hands and sighed. I felt all his sorrow and really wanted to tell him "I'm here for you!" Then I'd run up and kiss him, But Clove beat me to it.

"You're not alone" she said. I edged my head a bit further round the wall and saw them looking into each other's eyes. Cato put his hand round the back of her neck and she reached up to him. Their lips crushed together and I froze. All this time I thought Cato was my friend, I would be the one to hug him when he's sad, I'd be the one he'll comfort when I fail, I'd be the one to kiss at times of sorrow… I guess I was wrong.

I woke up sweating on the floor of my room; this was the 1st nightmare I'd had while in the hunger games. I got up and ordered a glass of milk from the delivery menu and wandered into the sitting room.

"Can't sleep?" said a voice behind me. I turned on my heal quickly to see Marvel.

"Your milk's here" he said handing me the glass and smiling warmly.

"Thanks" I said my voice hard as I took it from him and sat on the sofa. "And no I can't sleep"

"Neither" said Marvel ordering himself a glass. He sat beside me; there was a moment of awkward silence between us. I sipped my milk quietly.

"I'm sorry about that night after the parade" he started "I don't know what came over me."

"I'm sorry for getting mad at you" I replied.

"Milk's here" yawned Marvel getting to the door. He sat down again putting his arm round me.

"What are you doing!" I said wriggling out and spilling my milk everywhere.

"What? I said I'm sorry." He said innocently but I didn't reply and just stormed into my room. He just didn't understand, I wasn't in love with him. I was in love with someone else. That just made me start crying even harder. I cried myself to sleep.

The days went by and nothing happened, I never got any better at spears, Cato and Clove showed no interest in each other after that day and I certainly didn't try to make a move on him. It was painful to know that even Clove, my best friend hadn't even bothered to tell me herself about the kiss. The day of the test came round so quickly that I felt like I was totally not prepared and freaked out.

"What's the matter Glimmer?" asked Cato putting an arm round my shoulder.

"I'm scared Cato! I don't fell ready to face the game keepers" I sobbed "What if I fail and they give me a big fat zero!"

"Oh they wouldn't do that!" said Clove.

"Thanks you two you're really nice!"

"District 1" called the peacekeeper.

"Go on you'll do great!" said Cato and helped me up.

"This is it", I thought, "All you have to do is go up, shoot a few arrows and maybe a spear. Bow and wait to be dismissed just like Winty said."

Walking into the empty training center was by far the most terrifying thing I had ever done, I tried to keep cool but the tension in the room was just too much.

"Proceed," said the head gamekeeper Seneca Crane. I didn't bother answering and just headed straight for the arrows. I chose my usual size bow and the sharpest arrow I could find.

"Pointing the tip of it towards the blue mannequin I pulled the bow back to my cheek.

"Keep straight, keep straight" I repeated in me head as I aimed my arm to the right shoulder and took a couple deep breathes.

"Ready, set" I held my breath, "Go!" I let the string go and exhaled.

"Oh no!" I breathed realizing how bad my aim was. I was shaking so badly that my arm, just at the last minute had gone to low. Instead I hit the knee of the mannequin, I turned around.

"Oh!" said Seneca "Sorry Glimmer but if carry on like that we'll have to give you a zero!"

"Please give her a chance," said another one of the gamekeepers.

"Ok Glimmer, we'll give you one last chance to make yourself worthy enough for more than a 5! Seneca said. He sat up straight and watched me closely as I collected my arrow. This time I really paid attention to my aim and didn't fail to notice that the reason the first go was so bad was because my hand was shaking like mad! I did the same routine I always did and aimed perfectly to shoot.

"One, two… THREE!" I let go sharply and hit the heart right on target.

"The Gamekeepers clapped politely and I bowed.

"Seneca waved his hand to the door smiling and the Cato came in. I gave him the thumbs up and skipped out the exit.

"Oh it's so suspenseful!" giggled Winty excitedly as we waited for Ceaser to announce the test results.

"I know!" agreed Marvel taking more popcorn from the endless supply in front of us.

"Ok it is now time to announce the score of each district" Ceaser Flickerman started.

"Oh shhh it's starting" I said quieting Winty.

"Marvel Halt, the boy tribute of district 1 got!" there was I short drum roll "A high score of 8 out of 12!" .The audience clapped and cheered.

"Well done Marvel! Said Cliffia trying her best to look happy and enthusiastic.

I didn't congratulate him on his great score and kept my eyes on the TV. I was determined not to show him any more affection like that night.

"And the girl tribute, Glimmer Pree" continued Ceaser "Has got a score of 8 points out of 12! Wow just like Marvel's!"

"Yes yes!" I squealed standing up and punching my fist in the air.

"Woo you both did so well" exclaimed Winty and gave us a hug.

"I think I got more than what I deserved" I said, "I only did well with one of my arrows."

"Oh Glimmer they don't just judge you on your skills at weapons, they judge you on your attitude towards the Hunger Games as well." Said Cliffia "Like for example I absolutely bombed in my test but since I volunteered for the games I still got a 7!" Her voice was all cheery.

"Ok it's district 2's turn!" I sat down and stared at the screen. "Come on Cato!" I whispered to myself.

"Cato, from district 2 has got a fabulous score of… 10!" Ceaser clapped.

"Yes" I said.

"And our girl tribute Clove…

"I crossed my fingers and stared at the screen" Clove was like a friend to me and I wouldn't want her to fail.

"Got a score of 10 just like her district partner Cato!"

I could hear Cato and Clove cheering and jumping up and under us.

"We did it," Cried one of the two muffled voices that I think was Cato.

"I know we're going to be great in the games. I would have kept listening if the next tribute didn't come on. Most of the other tributes were just the same usual scores like 6s and 7s.

"Ok" said Ceaser looking bored while he shuffled with his papers. "The last but not least, miss Katniss Everdeen. We all sighed in boredom, trying to stay awake while listening to the 24 tributes scores was a very hard thing to do.

"Wow" said Ceaser, which made us all look up "Katniss has got an astonishing score of 11! A first for district 12.

"What!" said Marvel and I in unison.

"Astonishing" murmured Cliffia half asleep. I ran to the phone and dialed district 2's number.

"Hello?" said Cato.

"Cato! Did you hear about Katniss?" I asked

"Yep just now" his voice sounded hard and vengeful. I heard a noise in the back ground.

"What's that noise?" I asked. I could hear him walking out the room.

"It's Clove; she's very hurt we'll discuss this tomorrow. I put the phone down and walked into my room. The bed was comfy but I couldn't go to sleep, Katniss the district 12 tribute got better than the careers. The thought made me want to kill her and her partner Peeta. I fell asleep thinking about it.

In the morning I met the careers for breakfast.

"Hi Glimmer" they said together, Marvel sat there shyly.

"Hi" I replied enthusiastically. I sat down next to

Cato and looked at the team, their faces were all very serious and I knew why.

"Hey Neisse! [nick name for district 4]" we said as our last member joined us.

"So district 12 got an 11" he said formally. "That's what we're here to talk about, right?

"Yes it is" Cato said and rested his chin on the tips of his fingers. "I think everyone would agree that Katniss Everdeen is the main priority here." Every one nodded in agreement.

"Okay just to make it clear" he continued "Forget the other tributes because once we set foot on that arena, Katniss will be our main victim… Agreed?"

"Agreed!" I said

"I Agree to" said Marvel

"Yeah!" Clove said and caught Cato's eye for a second.

"I agree to… I-I guess" hesitated Neisse. We all clanked our glasses of orange juice and chanted "We are the careers!" The other tributes were staring at us and we just stuck our tongues out at them. I saw Katniss and Peeta pretending not to notice us.

"Hey fire girl!"I called. I drew a line with my finger across my throat and fell back on the chair; the others laughed and cheered with me. They both scowled and looked away but we just cheered louder. I saw her get up and start walking away keeping her eyes to the other side of us.

"Hey, good luck at the interview" called Clove "hope you don't catch on fire this time" she cracked and we laughed together. Katniss sped up her speed and hurried out the room.

"Okay time to go to Frauda" sighed Marvel "My stylist" he added when he saw our blank expressions.

"Good idea" agreed Clove getting up as well.

"Yeah I think I'll go too" I said.

"Okay bye" said Neisse. I caught Cato's eye as I went and I couldn't help but wink at him.

"Hello?" I said shyly peeking my head into the empty styling room "Cypress?"

"Well Hello" said Crimson looking up from her note pad. "You're early! I can tell your really serious about winning this aren't you." She added. I just smiled at her and let myself in, I couldn't be bothered acting polite.

"Hi Glimmer!" said the rest of my prep team much too cheerfully for my mood.

"Okay guys can you just make me look pretty" I said slumping out of my clothes.

"Fine!" said Martin, he got a pair of scissors out and started clipping my hair. The rest did my makeup quietly too scared to even breathe.

"Sorry guys didn't mean to be rude I'm just annoyed at the scores last night. I apologized.

"Everyone is" Huffed Crimson "That's the best they've done in years."

"The door opened and Cypress strolled in. "Oh" her eyes widened "You're early." The prep team skittered out the room behind her.

"Hello" I said quietly. She sat herself in the sofa and motioned me to follow. I quickly grabbed my dressing gown and hurried over.

"I've been meaning to talk to you" she said "I think now is the right time." She leaned back and shook her hair out of a ponytail. She looked gorgeous. "In the interview you can't just be the part… you have to look the part" she said throwing her hands out and smiling.

"Err isn't it supposed to be the other way round? I said confused. She ignored me and continued.

"So let's get started" she rubbed her perfect, painted hands together. "Give me your best smile." I obeyed and gave her my usual glowing smile.

"Good, very good" she clapped "I can tell you're going to get lots of sponsors."

"Cypress got up and walked to the cupboard. She pulled out a dress; it was strapless with a ruffled skirt.

"This is what you'll be wearing for the interview" she said. She motioned me to come closer and helped me to get it on. The prep team came back in to do my make up while Cypress did my hair. By the time they had finished it was time to go. I was so happy to be in something pretty again and not the ugly training suits that I wasn't even worried about the interview. I strolled down the corridor like a supermodel and flicked my hair back and forth. The rest of the tributes stared at either my beauty or my stupidity as passed them.

"Wait here" a peacekeeper told me. I could hear ceaser's voice through the door as he welcomed the crowd. I smoothed out my dress and shook my hair off my shoulders. "This is it" I thought "Your whole life may come down to this interview." I could see Ceaser as he got the crowd warmed up ready the show. I leaned over so I could see the huge crowd awaiting my presence and shuddered, all the braveness left my body.

"Our first tribute from district 1, Glimmer Pree!"Said Ceaser and gestured for me to come forward. I walked forward until I could see the whole crowd. Hesitantly I smiled and waved at them.

"Hello, hello!" Welcomed Ceaser standing up and kissing me on both cheeks.

"Hi" I said and sat down. I kept the smile plastered on my face as he spoke.

"Well" he said "I guess you are very excited for the games?"

"Very excited" I lied. He asked random questions about my family and friends back in district 1.

"I'm sorry I just have to say" He said "I think that everyone here would agree that you look absolutely stunning in that dress." He raised his hands and the crowd cheered with him.

"Awe thanks" I said. Ceaser took my hand and stood me up; I slowly twirled so they could see my outfit. The crowd screamed even louder when Ceaser did the same in his purple coat and pants.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! I give you Glimmer Pree!" I smiled and waved as I skipped off the stage. As soon as I left Winty swooped over and started congratulating me.

"Oh you did so well!" She praised. Cliffia came and praised me too. I walked over to the TV and watched marvel jump on stage as if he was the greatest guy on earth. Ceaser looked quit startled by this but quickly recomposed his face into his usual cheerful smile. They shook hands and gave each other a man hug. I guess he was going for the cool guy theme. It really annoyed me how the crowd laughed in applause at his petty, shallow act and I was glad when he was off.

"Great!" Winty squealed and trotted over to him.

"Yeah that theme really suited you" added his mentor Craigen. I rolled my eyes and watched the screen just in time to see Ceaser and Cato shake hands. He had already told me before the interview that he was doing the straight forward "I'll do my best" act. When he was done the crowd screamed for him.

"That was awesome Cato" I congratulated.

"You did good too" he added. "Ooh ooh Clove's on." He past me and walked back to the television. Clove look pretty in her cute dress and funny hairstyle. She looked way too innocent for her personality; she'd just seem like a sweet little girl if you hadn't seen the way she fiercely threw her knives in training. The interview went smoothly and before I knew it she was done.

Clove immediately ran to Cato but stumbled in her heels. He laughed and held her shoulders. They looked into each other's eyes just like they did in the restrooms at the training center. Not wanting to disturb their "moment" I awkwardly tip toed back to the screen, again. By the time they joined me it was up to district 12. I Growled as Katniss walked on stage but neither of them heard. Clove was smiling at the ground, her cheeks rosy red and Cato was trying to cover up something on his neck. I let it pass and ignored them.

"Ha-ha" I laughed "Did you see that! She is so pathetic!" Katniss stupidly didn't hear what Ceaser had said and said "What." I grumbled when nobody laughed with me. What love birds. Katniss answered the questions with no expression. So what she volunteered for her baby sister Prim, so what she got a score of 11 in the training center, she'll never get sponsors with an interview like that! I had complete confidence that she was going to crash and burn just like I'd hoped for. Pity those two love birds were too involved in their little "secret" to experience the joy I was going through. It didn't last long; Katniss stood up and started twirling round and round. Red flames started licking up the hem of her dress. Her stylist really out did himself on this one! I prayed that the she would burst into flames and turned to ash but of course that didn't happen. Now Cato and Clove were watching, mouths hanging open and eyes glued to the screen .Any one could see the fiery look of revenge swirling in their eyes. That was breaking point for Cato, he turned and stalked away. A few seconds later we heard a smash of most likely a plate from the buffet, then a petrifying roar. Peeta was up next to face the heat of the crowd. He walked in confident and smiling and I hated it. He started rambling on about roses and showers but I wasn't actually listening.

"So Peeta, got a girl back in district 1? Ceaser asked.

"Um no, no" Peeta replied. He looked kind of embarrassed at the question.

"Awe I don't believe it for one second" Ceaser denied "A boy with those looks!" I snorted at that statement, him handsome!

"Err well I have had a crush on this girl for like… forever" Peeta said. He ran a hand through his blonde smoothed hair. "Except I don't think she even noticed me until the reaping"

"Course she didn't" I mumbled. Clove breathed a laugh at my poor joke. The crowd awed for him.

"Well how about this" Ceaser leaned closer to Peeta "You win this and go back to district 12 then she'll just have to go out with you!"

"Well that's the problem" Peeta said, "This girl came with me." Just like at the parade, the audience went silent, and that's when I got pushed over the edge. I stormed over to the buffet and started chucking plates like Frisbees at the wall. I snarled as each one hit the wall and smashed into a million pieces. I was onto 15th plate when the peacekeepers came and escorted me back to my room. I didn't fight them I was too exhausted for that. I sat on my bed as thoughts whizzed through my head. Katniss and Peeta's performance, Cato and Clove's secret kiss, the games. I decided to go through them one at a time. I start with district 12, the only thing I can think is "Katniss Everdeen… it is officially on!" Next I think about Cato and Clove. It's a very hard topic to think about at a time like this. I really like Cato but he loves Clove. I completely ruled out the idea of killing her so Cato would be all mine, we were too close. I fell back into the soft cushions and sighed. Clove is my friend; if I really cared for her I'd let him go.

I woke up fully dressed on top of my bed. I must have fallen asleep while I was thinking. I sighed and rolled off the bed.

"Don't want to be late for the reaping!" I huffed sarcastically. I shuffled into the bathroom. Wow I look ugly. The special hair spray they put in my hair kept it nice and smooth but my face looks horrid. I guess I must have been crying because my eyes and nose were red and all my makeup was smudged. I stepped out of my clothes and into the shower. The worm water made me sigh; I love the showers in the capitol. Even though we have perfectly fine ones back home these ones can get just the right temperature and have a lovely range of fragrant soaps to choose from. Once I'm out and dried I feel fresh and ready to take on anything life chucks at me. I skip out the room in the boring training out fit and poison ring my Father gave me. As I'm about to leave I bump into Marvel. I give him a quick grin and open the door.

"Good luck today" He says and holds up his hand for a high five.

Since I was in such an impossibly joyful mood I said "You too" and slapped him on the hand. Unfortunately before I even got a foot out the door a bunch of peacekeepers came and ushered me back inside my flat.

"You not aloud to leave until you're told" one of them said and shut the door. I stepped back to avoid a slam in the face; how rude! I could hear Marvel chuckling behind me. I bit my finger in embarrassment; of course you couldn't leave now, any idiot would know that. Just as I was about to order some milk the door opened and the same peacekeepers came in.

"Follow us" one said and pushed us forward. They led us to a large hovercraft on the roof of the building where all the other tributes were. Before we could get on board we had to go through security for any hidden weapons. I quietly removed my removed my ring and placed it in my back pocket. I stiffly lifted my arms so they could check me. My Father was careful to make the ring plastic so it wouldn't be sensed by the metal detectors. They were just about to let me pass when a peacekeeper checked my pockets and obviously found it. I hung my head in shame as the examined it closely. They soon found the tiny little dart inside the gem of the ring and confiscate it. I sat on the hovercraft sadly. Marvel sits on the seat next to me and takes my hand.

"You can have mine" he offered and held out a thick gold chain. "My sister gave it to me" I looked at it longingly; it would be nice to have something to take into the arena. I refuse it. The hover craft lifts into the air with a steady jolt. I clasp the arms of the seat. Goodbye Panem.

I meet Cypress before I leave.

"Goodbye" I said a bit teary eyed. She didn't respond. I got my jacket from the hanger and stepped into the tube. It lifted me up into a clear plain of grass. I could see the Cornucopia and a lake, the rest was just forest from what I could see. A voice started the 60 second count down. All the tributes shuffled into a good running position either to or from the Cornucopia. I obviously ran to it. I scanned all the tributes, most kept their eyes on the closest backpack in front of them. My mouth fell open in shock when I noticed that Katniss had her eye on a bow and a sheath of arrows. That's my weapon I thought. I positioned myself for the arrows; I must get to them first! The buzzer started for us to start and I shot of the plate like a rocket and straight forward. I looked round but Katniss was nowhere to be seen. Probably chickened out at the last minute. I swooped down and grabbed up the bow hoisting the sheath onto my shoulder. A bit further was a dagger so I scooped that up as well. It had a sharp point good for stabbing. I headed towards a boy who was running away with a blue backpack. I caught up with him quickly. When the boy saw me he freaked and tried to run faster but stumbled and fell onto his knees. He dumped his bag and tried to get to his feet but I grabbed his shoulder so he fell onto his back. He lay there slightly stunned so he didn't have a chance before I took my knife and stabbed him in the gut. I took out the knife and stabbed repeatedly in the chest until I was certain he was dead. Now I was closer I could recognize the boy's face. I didn't know his name but I knew he was the tribute from district 8. My fingers fumbled to put the knife back into my pocket. I got up and searched for my next victim but was distracted by an ear piercing screech behind me. I whipped my head round and pulled my knife out but nobody came to attack me. Clove was running back to the cornucopia screeching and kicking up the dirt. Since there was nobody to kill because they had either fled or died in the blood bath I ran up to her.

"Hey Clove what's wrong?" I asked her.

"She got away" she snarled. I backed away when I saw her grip tighten around a lethal looking knife.

"Who"

"Katniss" she almost whispered.

"Who" asked Cato. He ran up to us with obvious concern for Clove on his face.

"Katniss" I answered.

"Come on guys the Cornucopia's all to us!" called Marvel.

"Guess what" Cato said.

"What?" we asked.

"I killed the guy who stole my knife" he said proudly. We all clapped in amusement. There were so many weapons to choose from inside the Cornucopia but I still stuck to the bow and arrows. Clove took the knives since she was the best at them, Marvel took the spear and Cato found himself a sword. I got a packet of dried fruit and lay in the warm sun.

"Glimmer wake up" Clove said and shook me awake.

"What are we doing?" I asked. All the careers were packing supplies and chatting.

"Hunting time" she whispered excitedly.

"Now? What time is it? I mumbled.

"There aren't any clocks here."

"Oh yeah." I got to my feet and stiffly stretched my legs. I grabbed an orange back pack and stuffed some water, food and the bow and arrows. The bitter cold of the night sent shivers down my spine as we trudged through the forest. Since it was the first night of the games we decided we would stay close to the cornucopia so not to get too lost.

"Look, look!" Clove hissed. She pointed towards a small gap in the trees where we could see a faint orange light and smoke in the black sky. Cato quickly took the lead and we all drew our weapons.

"Quiet!" I hissed to the others "I can hear something." As soon as they silenced I could hear it more clearly. There were foot steps to the right side of us and we swiftly changed course and followed the sound. As soon as the unknown tribute heard us they picked up their pace. We went into a sprint easily gaining on the tribute until he was visible enough to tell he was Peeta. Marvel grabbed his jacket and pulled him to the ground. Just as he was going to stab him in the gut Cato stopped him.

"Let him join us" he said. Peeta reared up on his hands and feet as Cato swaggered up to him. He stuck his hand out in welcome, Peeta eyed it suspiciously. A couple seconds passed before he took Cato's hand. He gave Peeta a strong jolt to help him up but let go so he fell back painfully into a tree.

We all laughed at him.

"Come on!" Marvel said and stabbed him lightly with his spear. Peeta scrambled to his feet and started backing away again but I got my arrows ready which made him freeze in his tracks.

"Peeta, would you mind coming with us?" Cato said almost nicely. He held out his hand again but Peeta got up himself.

Peeta walked in the middle of us as we started following the smoke again. He looked nervously for a way out but soon found out escape was impossible.

"Get down!" I hissed as Neisse and I pushed him down. We were only about 10 meters away from our victim. As quiet as mice we stealthily crept up on the unaware girl. Soon we were standing right behind her. Cato cleared his throat comically to catch her attention. She gasped in shock to see us, Cato carefully past me his sword. I was a bit confused on why he didn't hand it to clove who was just on the other side of him but didn't hesitate to use it. She barely had time to scream before I stabbed her in the ribs. I pulled the knife out and she fell limp onto the ground. Surprisingly I didn't feel a twinge of guilt as I watched her ragged breathing slow to a halt. Cato took his sword back and cleaned it on his shirt.

"Let's go guys!" Marvel urged.

"Yeah before it starts stinking!" Clove added. We wrinkled our nose in disgust and moved on. I took the lead as we trudged through the bush.

"Wait!" Cato called. We all turned to look at him. "Shouldn't we have heard the cannon by now?" They all looked at me.

"What?" I said "You saw where I stuck her!"

"Some one should go back and check" Neisse said.

"No need!" I argued "She's either dead or in very, very bad condition." Next thing I knew we were in all rambling over each other trying to get a word in. With every second we got louder and louder. All of a sudden a voice rose above every one's else's.

"Quiet!" it screamed. We all turned to stare at Peeta. "I'll go and see to it myself she's dead!" His tone clearly told us he wanted to move on with the hunt. We looked at each other hesitantly, he could just run away. Clove slowly unzipped her jacket and took out a knife with a sharp pointed blade. Peeta snatched it and stumbled back the way we came. We watched as he disappeared out of sight.

"Why can't we just kill him?" I hissed impatiently.

"He might be able to help us finding… her" Cato said looking round wearily.

"Wish we knew how she got that 11!" Clove sighed.

"Yeah… maybe Peeta can tell us" Marvel said. Before we could continue Peeta came trudging back through the bushes.

"Is she dead?" we asked.

"She is now" He answered. Just as he finished we heard the familiar boom of the canon.

"Moving on?" Peeta said in the same impatient tone. We sighed and continued to walk. The only other victim we found that night was a boy trying hopelessly to climb a tree. Once he saw us it was too late because Clove had already thrown a knife between his eyes. Once we were finished I happily took the lead back to the Cornucopia. I was so tired. Before we went to sleep we arranged our weapons and set up tents next to the Cornucopia. All the supplies were left vulnerably inside of it. We'd figure it out tomorrow.

I woke up bright and early the next day. Before I woke the others I checked the Cornucopia, nothing seemed to be missing. I took a packet of crackers and a flask of water for breakfast. The others woke up soon after.

"So" I said "What's the plan for today?" I asked Cato.

"Well, I guess we'll just wait till dark to hunt" He answered. "So I guess we can just relax for the day."

"Cool!" I said satisfied with the decision. Though; the day was far from relaxing. Instead Neisse had figured out a plan to keep our food and supplies safe so we were breaking our back lifting packs of supplies and heavy weapons to make the shape of a pyramid. Neisse was from district 4, the district of technology so once we were finished stacking crates and baskets of stuff he got the discs in the arena and planted and remade them so that anyone who tried stealing the supplies would blow to smithereens. We were all a bit confused on why he was doing this at first until Neisse explained.

"Now the stuff is surrounded by bombs whoever comes and steps on it will blow up!" He said. "Though I made a sort of password so that we can get through but no other tributes." As soon as he finished he started doing a series of hops and jumps to the Pyramid.

"Tada!" he said taking an apple from the pile and hopping back to us.

"Good job!" Cato said happy with Neisse's work. After that we spent the rest of the day learning the complicated code again and again. The others were enthusiastic on learning more and having fun hopping back and forth. Instead I went back to the tent and had a nap.

Clove woke me up again that night for the hunt. I lazily gathered my stuff from the pyramid and followed them to the woods. We killed 5 more people and we almost got the girl called Rue while she was spying on us at the Cornucopia but she got away before I could shoot her. All I really wanted to do was settle down to sleep. The next day we actually got to relax. I spent the day sunbathing on the top of the Cornucopia while the others sharpened and cleaned their weapons. I got 3 sponsor gifts in that day containing a hair brush, some of the delicious district 2 cakes and blister cream. I guess my popularity was up. That night we took a weird track round the arena through swamp led by Cato.

"Why are we going through this mush?" I asked him.

"Because" was all he answered. I was going to whine some more before I heard someone scream. We all drew our swords and looked round but it was only Clove.

"There's a snake going up my leg!" She breathed. I quickly ran up and helped her carefully get it off. Cato just looked and kept walking. Once the snake was gone I asked her why Cato was acting so weird and angry.

"Oh it's nothing" she said quickly "I think he's just having a bad day that's all." I knew she wasn't telling me everything but I didn't say anything. Through the whole hunt Cato and Clove didn't say a word to each other at all. I knew something was wrong and I really hoped they'd stop holding a grudge against each other. Thanks to Cato we got lost and never found our way back to the Cornucopia so we had to camp out.

Clove shook me awake in the morning.

"Come on!" She shouted at me. I looked around me and saw mayhem. The gamekeepers had decided to set the place on fire! I jumped up and grabbed my bow and arrows before running away with the others. I left my bag behind so I run faster. We were fast enough to out run the huge wall of fire but the smoke soon got to us.

"Over there!" Marvel yelled and pointed to our right. I looked and saw a river about 100 meters away. We all turned course and headed full sprint towards it. We were about 50 meters away when something large and red hot came whizzing towards us. I swiftly ducked behind a tree before it hit me. I started running again but the but the fire balls kept coming. One of them landed right next to me burning my right hand. It was nothing serious but hurt like mad. Eventually I made it to the river. The others were already there bathing in the cool water. As far as I could see nobody was seriously injured. Just minor burns. We really wanted to keep resting but Cato insisted on continuing. The rest of us sighed and got to our feet. We walked across the rocks by the river with our weapons at the ready. It was a risk to be walking in a place so vulnerable. All of a sudden we heard footsteps and a loud splash from across the river. Cato took the lead and sprinted forward.

"There she is!" he called. I quickened my run till I was at the edge of the river. I was just in time to see Katniss's face before she disappeared into the woods. I crashed into the water and swam swiftly to the other side. I easily skipped through the forest until I could see her. It was easy to tell that she was seriously injured on the leg. A smile spread across my face; this was going to be easy. I grabbed an arrow from my sheath and placed it on the bow still running.

"We're coming!" I called menacingly. Katniss looked back at us. The obvious fear in her eye gave me motivation. I was just about to shoot her in the head when she did something unexpected. She made a sharp turn right and started climbing a tree. As soon as I reached her she was already so high.

"Get him Cato!" I encouraged as he too made his way up. Unfortunately he only got a few meters high before crashing back to the ground. He got up quickly and snarled at her. Katniss just smirked and climbed higher.

"I'll do it?" I said. They gave me a few words of encouragement as I gripped the branches and hoisted myself onto the first branch. I steadily got myself higher until the branches started thinning out. By then Katniss was wedged up in the really thin and weak branches. I would have kept going if the tree hadn't started making weird creaking noises. Carefully I started climbing down branch by branch. The others urged me to go higher but I continued going lower. On the last branch my foot slipped and I tumbled down to the ground. I fell flat on my back. A jarring pain went up my spine and winded me. Marvel immediately rushed over and knelt beside me. He tried to help me up but I pushed him away and got up myself. I grabbed my weapons and went back to look at Katniss.

"I'll try my bow!" I said. The careers parted so I could get a good aim. I let go of the string. I could tell she was scared. Unfortunately as the arrow came whizzing towards her Katniss ducked so it got lodged in a branch. I wouldn't have been so mad if she hadn't grabbed the arrow and started waving it teasingly in front of us. We all snarled up at her which just made her smile widen.

"I'll do it!" Cato said and took my bow. He clumsily positioned his weapons. I already knew he was going to miss before he even shot it. Katniss chuckled at his short tempered rage and hardly flinched when the arrow was shot. Clove stepped up and opened her jacket for her special throwing knives but Peeta stopped her.

"We'll just wait her out! She's got to come down some time!" He yelled. We all stared at him.

"What?" I mumbled.

"Fine!" Cato said. We all dumped our supplies and sat down. I followed Marvel to the lake with a few water skins. We walked in silence. I kicked the dirt and avoided eye contact. As soon as I saw the lake I ran over and splashed my face in the cool water. I started filling up the water skins and treating them with some sort of special liquid still not looking at marvel who was sitting next to me. I was on about my third when he cleared his throat for my attention.

"Err, um Glimmer?" He started awkwardly.

"Yes?" I replied still not looking at him. He didn't reply. "What!?" I said impatiently. I looked up and saw his face had gone red and he too was trying to avoid my eyes.

"I just wanted to say…" He trailed off into quiet mumbles.

"Marvel what!" I raised my voice.

"I loved you!" He almost shouted in reply. I looked right at him stunned and angry. He sighed and smiled happily.

"I love you" He repeated quietly.

"What the, Marvel!" I stuttered angrily. I rose up to my feet and he did too.

"Why would you say that?" I pretty much shouted.

"Because I do!" He said confused. He still had the dumb grin on his face which only infuriated me more.

"Well I don't!" I said. I gathered the water skins and half ran back to the tree.

"What?" Marvel replied. The smile disappeared from his face. He started to jog after me.

"Glimmer what's wrong?" He asked. He grabbed my shoulder and spun me around to face him. The sudden movement made me drop the water skins. Marvel let go of me and bent down to get them for me. Oh how I wish I had my bow and arrow right now. Instead of waiting for him a started running again. I could hear his confused calls behind my but didn't stop. I busted through the bushes back to our camp site. My head throbbed with exhaustion and anger. What was he thinking springing that on me? I knew I should've been used to it since so many boys have said that to me back in district 2 but this time it was different. A strange feeling rose in the pit of my stomach. The feeling made me want to smile and cry at the same time. I pushed it out of my mind and crawled into my sleeping bag. I was almost sleeping when somebody called my name.

"Hey glimmer" the voice said smoothly. I rolled over to see who it was.

"Hi Cato!" I sighed. He sat next to me and twirled his sword between his fingers. I closed my eyes again and relaxed my muscles. All of a sudden Cato wrapped his arm under my head and around my shoulder. My eyes flew open and I looked at him shocked. He just smiled calmly. I was sort of confused on why he didn't choose to sleep with Clove like he usually does but didn't bother asking. Suddenly I got a great idea. I looked up and searched the camp site. Sure enough Marvel was there sitting on a faraway log. I looked at him closer and smirked. He was trying his best not to look at us but just couldn't help but glance. His fists clenched when he saw me looking at him. I lay back smugly and cuddled into Cato's shoulder. Soon enough my joy turned into exhaustion and I fell asleep.

I woke up to shouts and screams. I was confused at first to what was happening. My head hit the ground as Cato took his arm away. All at once several sharp pains hit my arms. I got up defensively and grabbed my weapons. I soon realized what was happening. Katniss had dropped a nest of trackerjackers on our campsite causing chaos. Several other stings got into my neck and face. I yelled in pain and pulled them out. The trackerjackers were now swarming round me and blocked my vision. The crawled up my and legs stinging me all over. I screamed in pain and fell on my hands and knees. My voice broke into dry wheezes. I fell on my side and started squirming weakly. My breaths got short and painful. I knew I wasn't going to survive this. I think the trackerjackers knew that too. They retreated leaving me swollen and sore. I heard a noise near me. I couldn't turn my head to see who it was and my hearing was extremely damaged. A few seconds later Katniss staggered over to me. I could tell she was in a bad state too. I wanted to scream for the others to come and kill her but all that came out were small pathetic wheezes. She studied my face for a bit before getting to work. She started scratching and pulling at my fingers painfully. She was trying to get my bow! The worst part is all I could do was lie there worthlessly as she did it. All of a sudden I felt something hack at my hand. I realized she was trying to get my bow by breaking my fingers with a stone! She kept hacking away until they broke. What was wrong with her? Did she know the pain and agony she was putting me through!? I held my breath and waited for death to come. Once she got my bow she got to her feet and scrambled away. I counted the minutes waiting for something to happen. Soon enough somebody came stumbling back. At first I thought it was Katniss coming to take back more stuff but luckily it wasn't. Marvel ran over to me. He sat next to me and checked my pulse. He sighed and looked into my eyes. He drew a shaky breath and started to talk.

"Glimmer if you can hear me I just wanted to say… I love you" He sniffled and started stroking my face. The sad thing was my numb swollen cheeks couldn't feel a thing. He was so sweet and kind coming back here to comfort me. I bet neither Cato nor Couch would do that for me. A tear rolled down his cheek and fell on my face. Carefully and slowly he lent down and kissed me on the lips.

"I Love you" He whispered. More tears rolled down his cheeks and fell on my face. I love you too were my last thoughts before the peaceful darkness swept over me. I finally know. It was always Marvel. Never anyone else and I am grateful to finally know it.

Sincerely Glimmer Pree.


	3. Chapter 3

"Wha" I said not really being able to take the news in.

"Well you know how your one of the prettiest girls in district 1 and every thing" she continued "He had a crush on you since kindergarten and he also knew kitty as one of his longest dearest friends. So when you took the place for her he knew you had a very kind heart and instantly fell in love with you. He told me his only dream now is to bring you home safely."

"Rubbish!" I cut her off "I hardly even know Marvel! Yeah where in the same school and live close by but we hardly even talk to each other. I stood there and let the peacekeepers drag the sobbing girl out of the room. I huffed and fiddled with the poisoned pin, she was definatley tricking me into being too in love to kill Marvel.

Even though the train was so close to the justice building the two of still had to go in a special tribute carriage driven by two peacekeepers as a large crowd followed us there. We were shown to our rooms and left to shower and dress for dinner. I left the old gown on the bed and got a blue dress with frills from top to bottom [It also had matching hat and shoes.] Dinner was in the main carriage of the train decorated with crystal chandeliers and plush sofas.

"Where's our mentor? Asked Marvel while we ate our roast turkey and orange pie.

"She doesn't want to see you yet" replied Winty pretending not to care. "Okay so tonight you two will be watching the other districts being drawn out of the reaping and tomorrow night you will be studying previous hunger games and their different battle tactics." She said reading from an electronic organizer the size of her palm.

"Okay" I said not really listening. We finished dinner and headed for the lounge room and started watching a repeat of today.

I stifled a yawn as I watched the last reaping of the day, district 12.

Primrose Everdeen! Effie Trinket called [A Pale lady with way to much makeup and a crappy pink wig.] A young, small girl stiffly walked up on the stage.

"No Primrose stop I volunteer! She screamed.

"No Katniss don't!" the young girl cried trying to pull her back. I stared horrified at the screen this was different to the stuff district 12 usually do and it made me let out a faint croak of sorrow which is a very hard thing to make me do. Marvel, who was sitting next to me, heard it and put his arm round me in comfort… Big mistake. I stood up abruptly which made him follow he had that innocent clueless face that you get on puppies when they chew up all your shoes. I did the best and easiest trick in defense class, tripped him with my leg and put my hand on his neck so he fell on the ground.

"What did I do" Marvel choked pushing at my hand to breath.

"Why did you do that"? I said loosing my grip on him.

"I was comforting you, you were sad" He stood up rubbing his neck.

"Oh…oops" I hurried out of the room extremely embarrassed with myself.

"Hmm…Finished!" my prep team [Glory, Marten and Crimson] sang in unison and laughed together, I couldn't help but laugh as well.

"All you needed was a little hair clip and lippy because you were already so beautiful." Glory sighed.

"Gosh you should see some of the people that come here" he continued "It's like they've never seen an ultra curling and shortening comb before!" she continued in disgust. I smiled because they were acting a bit silly over unimportant stuff.

"That's the spirit"! Martin cheered clapping his hands not knowing what I was actually smiling about.

"And that's the smile that will win you the sponsors you want" said Crimson looking over her half moon spectacles and smiling her own gorgeous smile.

Martin touched my hair and sighed, "I want to have your hair" he whined

"Why don't you just die your hair that color?" said Glory waving her hand carelessly.

"We've been through this I don't believe in tampering with hair," he growled.

"I'm with you on that one" said Crimson raising her hand and looking up from her checklist. When you become a stylist your whole life is based around make up and beauty, Glory had her hair tied up into lots of tiny buns around her head which I had never seen done before and Martin had blonde hair that was shaved into an H and G. these guys were really obsessed and serious about fashion… even though I love beauty just as much as them… that was kinda sad.

"Guys can you just call Cypins or whatever his name is-"

"Cypress" they said cutting me off and looking me with the "oh my god how can you not know her name" glare.

"Before I could glare at them back the door flew open and a lady with blonde hair like mine and green dress came in. She waved the others off and they hurried out the door.

"Good their gone" the lady said slumping into the couch and crossing her legs.

"Hi" I said shyly and took an involuntary step back. Forget the prep team this lady was the mother of all fashion possessors, her eye lashes were curled up and dyed pink, she had nails that changed color every few seconds and you could tell she'd had plastic surgery to make her eye brows curl at the ends.

"What's your name dear?" she asked getting up and studying me closely.

"Err Glimmer" I said stupidly forgetting.

"Okay I've got your outfit sorted so all we need to do is your hair and makeup." She leaned back and pursed her lips. This lady was scary, the way she talked and looked, I felt like grabbing my stuff and running out the door.

"Hmm where to start"

After hours of fitting brushing and well pain I was dressed and ready in a Shiny silver diamond carriage in a thin wavy gown sewn with diamonds and precious gems, my hair floated down in beautiful golden ringlets as well. Caesar Flickermans voice boomed for the first carriage to come forward. I looked at Marvel beside me, his face was pale as snow and he was shaking like hell. Instead of doing the same as him I lifted my head and smiled to face the roaring crowd. Marvel cottoned on quickly and did the same. The crowd cheered and threw roses and hats at us and the other districts came out. Silence swept over the crowd, they stopped cheering and their faces were glued to something behind us. I glanced behind me and saw the most amazing sight

"Crap!" I hissed it was just our luck that on my parade district 12 finds some way to make harmless fire and win the crowds attention. Plus their holding their holding hands like good old mates who AREN'T gonna kill each other. I felt something nudge my hand and looked down and Marvel made a sad attempt to hold my hand but I yanked it away. For the rest of the show we were ignored completely as the cameras showed the faces of fire girl and boy, the longer it went the more hatred and anger bubbled up in me.

I was so relieved when the carriage stopped, I let my smile go and slumped onto the floor. I tore hair pins off and the beads skittered across the floor. I watched one roll across the stable ground until it hit someone's boot, I looked up and it was the blonde boy called Cato from district 2. He looked just as mad as me about the parade he started walking towards me with the same hard blank expression but quickly turned a bit and passed me but also handed me piece of paper. I watched him as he went around the carriage and out the door, I followed him out and headed to my room . On the way I saw Marvel outside my door twirling a piece of paper.

"You got one?" he said waving the sheet

"Yep I said staring at my shoes and avoiding eye contact. I looked at it quickly to see what it could say.

"Gah" I gasped, On it, in rushed hand writing it said, **WILL YOU JOIN THE CAREERS?**

"What is it are you Okay" He said putting a hand on my shoulder to hug me. It was tempting to punch him a run but instead I kept my cool and nodded.

"Are you sure you look a bit angry-."

"Do I Marvel, do I because if you realized we just got thrashed by those two district 12s and I hate it!" I went into a fit of shrieking of and crying until I was on my hands and knees gasping for air. Marvel grabbed my arms before I could start again.

"Ssh Glimmer the peacekeepers will hear you!" he said wiping my tears with his sleeve.

"I hate losing," I said childishly.

"I know" he said softly "everyone does, its fine" I started to calm down and nodded in agreement. I gave him a friendly hug and we sat in silence against the wall for a minute. I was about to get up and stretch my legs when he grabbed my hands. I looked at him about to yank them free when he kissed me. Even though Cou and many previous boy friends had kissed me none had felt like that time. I sighed and kissed him back, I was confused and tired and didn't know what I was doing.

"Wow" I thought, "Romance and the hunger games, heh that's a weird combination" And that's when it hit me. I realized what I was doing and whom I was doing it with. I pulled away sharply.

"What was that?" I said climbing to my feet.

"What do you mean? I kissed you and you kissed me back!"

"True" I thought but instead I said, "Did not" and stalked into my room.

We were woken up early the next day and marched into a large building to the top floor of the building. We entered into a small room with two chairs and I was told to sit in the smaller chair and wait.

"What for?" I asked the friendlier looking peacekeeper

"Cliffia" he said and shut the door. Cliffia, she was the mentor for last year's games.

"OH!" I thought "And they came second in last years, but got beaten by some smart ass who got a lucky shot with a brick and his head." I would have kept thinking about past victors if the door didn't open.

"Hello Glimmer" said a sweet soft voice through the crack in the door.

"Cliffia?" I said wearily judging the waters. The door opened wider and a tall dark haired lady came in who I instantly recognized to be her. A wave of disappointment hit me full in the face. Of course it was Cliffia anybody would know that but she wasn't the happy young person who got interviewed by Cesar in the 71st annual hunger games. Her brow was creased into deep lines and she had dark bagged eyes. I gasped in horror before I could stop myself.

"Mm" she said and sat down on the opposite chair. She was so skinny that she took up only half of the chair.

"Glimmer I organize this meeting for all my tributes" she said. "And you must listen to everything I say very carefully so that you know what's coming."

"Okay" was the only word I could manage.

"Well as every one knows I was in the hunger games because I chose to be." She said, "Well, just like all the other careers that had ever made the choice to volunteer for the hunger games" She took a deep breath "I figured that it was the worst decision anybody could ever make.

"But why would you say that you won!" I said.

"Yes but do you Know how I did it" Cliffia said. "I killed someone. Now that was the second worst choice I had ever made" she lowered her "I just wished some one could have been there to tell me what was coming!" her voice broke but she didn't cry".

"What do you mean what was coming" I asked very confused on where this conversation was going.

"Well I didn't know it then but the very night after the games were finished I realized what I had done and the guilt has stayed with me ever since then." She took a deep breath and continued. "See Glimmer what I am telling you is there are consequences to winning, sometimes I think it would've been better to have died in the arena than to face the pain I have now.

"I disagree," I said "I believe that you should take your luck for granted and be happy you got to see your family again. You should be proud you killed him; he was going to kill you if you didn't kill him first anyway"

"Ohh all my tributes say that but none of them understand how it feels to not want to sleep at night and be haunted by the dreams of the deaths you caused. She wailed. "Darling I'm just telling you there's a choice, you can die and not see your family or loved ones again, or you could kill and win the games but be haunted every last second of your life by the life you killed!

"I'm getting back to district 1 whatever it takes" I said "No matter what the consequences!" She didn't try to stop me when I swept out the room.

The rest of the day was dedicated to tough work and learning at the training center. Since I was the latest there because I had a talk with Cliffia every body was already there when I arrived. I could see the careers group so I headed there first.

"Hey guys," I said

"Glimmer! There you are" said Cato giving me a high five. "So I guess you agreed to join?"

"Join what" I said stupidly stunned by his charms.

"You know the allies thing I gave you"

"Ohh yeah sure" I said the memory coming back to me. My fists clenched as I saw Marvel standing in the back of the team looking at the floor.

"Woo another member to the team!" The district 4 member said a bit over enthusiastically.

"Lets do the archery first," said Clove "My mentor Viara recommended it best for the stealth attack.

"Better than my mentor", I complained, "All she ever told me to do is die and don't bother." They all stared at me in shock.

"Hah!" Marvel snorted, "That's not as bad as fire girl and guy over there, their mentor does nothing but drink. My mentor said that the only thing he ever said to those two was "Don't die!"

"Heh I have to admit, that's probably the worst mentor on earth" I laughed "Those two don't stand a chance with him!"

"We practiced until lunch break which was lamb stew.

"Eww!" said Clove "I hate lamb stew! This is probably what district 12 eat not us!"

"Hahaha Peeta you're so hilarious!" giggled a voice. I looked over to other tables to see whose it was.

"Gosh look at those two!" said clove disgustedly. We all followed her gaze to a far away table where Katniss and Peeta where sitting by themselves smiling and laughing together."

"They're talking as if they aren't going to be killing each other in a matter of days!" said Marvel.

"Guys they're district twelve they probably to stupid to even know what the reaping is" said Cato ignoring the lot.

"I don't know she seemed to know a lot when she volunteered for her sister back then," I said.

"Aww that was sweet" said Clove "But it doesn't change the fact that she's still going down!" The group cheered and agreed with her. After lunch we headed straight for the spear throwing.

"Grr" I complained after countless attempts at throwing it correctly.

"Aww don't beat yourself up about it, you can have dibs on the arrows, you were great at them!" Said Cato giving me a smile.

"Thanks Cato, you're a nice guy" I hugged him and went back to practicing. I decided I would just sit down and watch the others practice. I concentrated on the technique that Marvel used, arrow straight, arm strong. His arm shot forward so fast sending the spear whizzing through the air hitting the board right on target. I watched his body positions and aim a few more times. I looked at his footing, then his arms and then his face. Oops! I realized he was staring at me staring at him and stood up walking into the restrooms. I stood there completely still for a few seconds. So embarrassing. I splashed my face with water. Doesn't matter, all that matters are the games, I thought to myself.

"Hey! That's my knife!" shouted another tribute bringing me back to my senses.

"What? No it isn't!" said another one.

"Yes it is I left it right there and you took it!" growled the first. I ran out the room and saw Cato with another tribute fighting over a knife.

"Give it back!" Cato snarled lunging for it.

"It's mine!" said the other boy holding it out of his reach. Every one here had seen Cato in training so that kid had a lot of nerve to talk like that. Cato was about to punch him in the stomach before peacekeepers came and pulled them off of each other.

"When were in the arena I'm gonna kill you myself!" He threatened. The boy gulped and backed away into the group of armed peacekeepers. Cato turned on his heal and walked away; he caught my eye as he went and passed me into the restrooms.

"Cato" Clove breathed and ran after him. I really wanted to follow her in there and comfort Cato but at the same time I wanted to give them some privacy. I waited outside the door for a few minutes for them to come out but curiosity got the best of me and I had to go in. I peeked behind the wall and saw Cato leaning against one of the sinks and Clove hugging him.

"It's like I'm not me anymore." Said Cato darkly "It's hard to explain but I feel…"

"Different" finished Clove "I know" she soothed.

"I feel like I have no one there for me as a friend or more than that" Cato leaned into his hands and sighed. I felt all his sorrow and really wanted to tell him "I'm here for you!" Then I'd run up and kiss him, But Clove beat me to it.

"You're not alone" she said. I edged my head a bit further round the wall and saw them looking into each other's eyes. Cato put his hand round the back of her neck and she reached up to him. Their lips crushed together and I froze. All this time I thought Cato was my friend, I would be the one to hug him when he's sad, I'd be the one he'll comfort when I fail, I'd be the one to kiss at times of sorrow… I guess I was wrong.


	4. chapter 4

I woke up sweating on the floor of my room; this was the 1st nightmare I'd had while in the hunger games. I got up and ordered a glass of milk from the delivery menu and wandered into the sitting room.

"Can't sleep?" said a voice behind me. I turned on my heal quickly to see Marvel.

"Your milk's here" he said handing me the glass and smiling warmly.

"Thanks" I said my voice hard as I took it from him and sat on the sofa. "And no I can't sleep"

"Neither" said Marvel ordering himself a glass. He sat beside me; there was a moment of awkward silence between us. I sipped my milk quietly.

"I'm sorry about that night after the parade" he started "I don't know what came over me."

"I'm sorry for getting mad at you" I replied.

"Milk's here" yawned Marvel getting to the door. He sat down again putting his arm round me.

"What are you doing!" I said wriggling out and spilling my milk everywhere.

"What? I said I'm sorry." He said innocently but I didn't reply and just stormed into my room. He just didn't understand, I wasn't in love with him. I was in love with someone else. That just made me start crying even harder. I cried myself to sleep.

The days went by and nothing happened, I never got any better at spears, Cato and Clove showed no interest in each other after that day and I certainly didn't try to make a move on him. It was painful to know that even Clove, my best friend hadn't even bothered to tell me herself about the kiss. The day of the test came round so quickly that I felt like I was totally not prepared and freaked out.

"What's the matter Glimmer?" asked Cato putting an arm round my shoulder.

"I'm scared Cato! I don't fell ready to face the game keepers" I sobbed "What if I fail and they give me a big fat zero!"

"Oh they wouldn't do that!" said Clove.

"Thanks you two you're really nice!"

"District 1" called the peacekeeper.

"Go on you'll do great!" said Cato and helped me up.

"This is it", I thought, "All you have to do is go up, shoot a few arrows and maybe a spear. Bow and wait to be dismissed just like Winty said."

Walking into the empty training center was by far the most terrifying thing I had ever done, I tried to keep cool but the tension in the room was just too much.

"Proceed," said the head gamekeeper Seneca Crane. I didn't bother answering and just headed straight for the arrows. I chose my usual size bow and the sharpest arrow I could find.

"Pointing the tip of it towards the blue mannequin I pulled the bow back to my cheek.

"Keep straight, keep straight" I repeated in me head as I aimed my arm to the right shoulder and took a couple deep breathes.

"Ready, set" I held my breath, "Go!" I let the string go and exhaled.

"Oh no!" I breathed realizing how bad my aim was. I was shaking so badly that my arm, just at the last minute had gone to low. Instead I hit the knee of the mannequin, I turned around.

"Oh!" said Seneca "Sorry Glimmer but if carry on like that we'll have to give you a zero!"

"Please give her a chance," said another one of the gamekeepers.

"Ok Glimmer, we'll give you one last chance to make yourself worthy enough for more than a 5! Seneca said. He sat up straight and watched me closely as I collected my arrow. This time I really paid attention to my aim and didn't fail to notice that the reason the first go was so bad was because my hand was shaking like mad! I did the same routine I always did and aimed perfectly to shoot.

"One, two… THREE!" I let go sharply and hit the heart right on target.

"The Gamekeepers clapped politely and I bowed.

"Seneca waved his hand to the door smiling and the Cato came in. I gave him the thumbs up and skipped out the exit.

"Oh it's so suspenseful!" giggled Winty excitedly as we waited for Ceaser to announce the test results.

"I know!" agreed Marvel taking more popcorn from the endless supply in front of us.

"Ok it is now time to announce the score of each district" Ceaser Flickerman started.

"Oh shhh it's starting" I said quieting Winty.

"Marvel Halt, the boy tribute of district 1 got!" there was I short drum roll "A high score of 8 out of 12!" .The audience clapped and cheered.

"Well done Marvel! Said Cliffia trying her best to look happy and enthusiastic.

I didn't congratulate him on his great score and kept my eyes on the TV. I was determined not to show him any more affection like that night.

"And the girl tribute, Glimmer Pree" continued Ceaser "Has got a score of 8 points out of 12! Wow just like Marvel's!"

"Yes yes!" I squealed standing up and punching my fist in the air.

"Woo you both did so well" exclaimed Winty and gave us a hug.

"I think I got more than what I deserved" I said, "I only did well with one of my arrows."

"Oh Glimmer they don't just judge you on your skills at weapons, they judge you on your attitude towards the Hunger Games as well." Said Cliffia "Like for example I absolutely bombed in my test but since I volunteered for the games I still got a 7!" Her voice was all cheery.

"Ok it's district 2's turn!" I sat down and stared at the screen. "Come on Cato!" I whispered to myself.

"Cato, from district 2 has got a fabulous score of… 10!" Ceaser clapped.

"Yes" I said.

"And our girl tribute Clove…

"I crossed my fingers and stared at the screen" Clove was like a friend to me and I wouldn't want her to fail.

"Got a score of 10 just like her district partner Cato!"

I could hear Cato and Clove cheering and jumping up and under us.

"We did it," Cried one of the two muffled voices that I think was Cato.

"I know we're going to be great in the games. I would have kept listening if the next tribute didn't come on. Most of the other tributes were just the same usual scores like 6s and 7s.

"Ok" said Ceaser looking bored while he shuffled with his papers. "The last but not least, miss Katniss Everdeen. We all sighed in boredom, trying to stay awake while listening to the 24 tributes scores was a very hard thing to do.

"Wow" said Ceaser, which made us all look up "Katniss has got an astonishing score of 11! A first for district 12.

"What!" said Marvel and I in unison.

"Astonishing" murmured Cliffia half asleep. I ran to the phone and dialed district 2's number.

"Hello?" said Cato.

"Cato! Did you hear about Katniss?" I asked

"Yep just now" his voice sounded hard and vengeful. I heard a noise in the back ground.

"What's that noise?" I asked. I could hear him walking out the room.

"It's Clove; she's very hurt we'll discuss this tomorrow. I put the phone down and walked into my room. The bed was comfy but I couldn't go to sleep, Katniss the district 12 tribute got better than the careers. The thought made me want to kill her and her partner Peeta. I fell asleep thinking about it.

In the morning I met the careers for breakfast.

"Hi Glimmer" they said together, Marvel sat there shyly.

"Hi" I replied enthusiastically. I sat down next to

Cato and looked at the team, their faces were all very serious and I knew why.

"Hey Neisse! [nick name for district 4]" we said as our last member joined us.

"So district 12 got an 11" he said formally. "That's what we're here to talk about, right?

"Yes it is" Cato said and rested his chin on the tips of his fingers. "I think everyone would agree that Katniss Everdeen is the main priority here." Every one nodded in agreement.

"Okay just to make it clear" he continued "Forget the other tributes because once we set foot on that arena, Katniss will be our main victim… Agreed?"

"Agreed!" I said

"I Agree to" said Marvel

"Yeah!" Clove said and caught Cato's eye for a second.

"I agree to… I-I guess" hesitated Neisse. We all clanked our glasses of orange juice and chanted "We are the careers!" The other tributes were staring at us and we just stuck our tongues out at them. I saw Katniss and Peeta pretending not to notice us.

"Hey fire girl!"I called. I drew a line with my finger across my throat and fell back on the chair; the others laughed and cheered with me. They both scowled and looked away but we just cheered louder. I saw her get up and start walking away keeping her eyes to the other side of us.

"Hey, good luck at the interview" called Clove "hope you don't catch on fire this time" she cracked and we laughed together. Katniss sped up her speed and hurried out the room.

"Okay time to go to Frauda" sighed Marvel "My stylist" he added when he saw our blank expressions.

"Good idea" agreed Clove getting up as well.

"Yeah I think I'll go too" I said.

"Okay bye" said Neisse. I caught Cato's eye as I went and I couldn't help but wink at him.

"Hello?" I said shyly peeking my head into the empty styling room "Cypress?"

"Well Hello" said Crimson looking up from her note pad. "You're early! I can tell your really serious about winning this aren't you." She added. I just smiled at her and let myself in, I couldn't be bothered acting polite.

"Hi Glimmer!" said the rest of my prep team much too cheerfully for my mood.

"Okay guys can you just make me look pretty" I said slumping out of my clothes.

"Fine!" said Martin, he got a pair of scissors out and started clipping my hair. The rest did my makeup quietly too scared to even breathe.

"Sorry guys didn't mean to be rude I'm just annoyed at the scores last night. I apologized.

"Everyone is" Huffed Crimson "That's the best they've done in years."

"The door opened and Cypress strolled in. "Oh" her eyes widened "You're early." The prep team skittered out the room behind her.

"Hello" I said quietly. She sat herself in the sofa and motioned me to follow. I quickly grabbed my dressing gown and hurried over.

"I've been meaning to talk to you" she said "I think now is the right time." She leaned back and shook her hair out of a ponytail. She looked gorgeous. "In the interview you can't just be the part… you have to look the part" she said throwing her hands out and smiling.

"Err isn't it supposed to be the other way round? I said confused. She ignored me and continued.

"So let's get started" she rubbed her perfect, painted hands together. "Give me your best smile." I obeyed and gave her my usual glowing smile.

"Good, very good" she clapped "I can tell you're going to get lots of sponsors."

"Cypress got up and walked to the cupboard. She pulled out a dress; it was strapless with a ruffled skirt.

"This is what you'll be wearing for the interview" she said. She motioned me to come closer and helped me to get it on. The prep team came back in to do my make up while Cypress did my hair. By the time they had finished it was time to go. I was so happy to be in something pretty again and not the ugly training suits that I wasn't even worried about the interview. I strolled down the corridor like a supermodel and flicked my hair back and forth. The rest of the tributes stared at either my beauty or my stupidity as passed them.

"Wait here" a peacekeeper told me. I could hear ceaser's voice through the door as he welcomed the crowd. I smoothed out my dress and shook my hair off my shoulders. "This is it" I thought "Your whole life may come down to this interview." I could see Ceaser as he got the crowd warmed up ready the show. I leaned over so I could see the huge crowd awaiting my presence and shuddered, all the braveness left my body.

"Our first tribute from district 1, Glimmer Pree!"Said Ceaser and gestured for me to come forward. I walked forward until I could see the whole crowd. Hesitantly I smiled and waved at them.

"Hello, hello!" Welcomed Ceaser standing up and kissing me on both cheeks.

"Hi" I said and sat down. I kept the smile plastered on my face as he spoke.

"Well" he said "I guess you are very excited for the games?"

"Very excited" I lied. He asked random questions about my family and friends back in district 1.

"I'm sorry I just have to say" He said "I think that everyone here would agree that you look absolutely stunning in that dress." He raised his hands and the crowd cheered with him.

"Awe thanks" I said. Ceaser took my hand and stood me up; I slowly twirled so they could see my outfit. The crowd screamed even louder when Ceaser did the same in his purple coat and pants.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! I give you Glimmer Pree!" I smiled and waved as I skipped off the stage. As soon as I left Winty swooped over and started congratulating me.

"Oh you did so well!" She praised. Cliffia came and praised me too. I walked over to the TV and watched marvel jump on stage as if he was the greatest guy on earth. Ceaser looked quit startled by this but quickly recomposed his face into his usual cheerful smile. They shook hands and gave each other a man hug. I guess he was going for the cool guy theme. It really annoyed me how the crowd laughed in applause at his petty, shallow act and I was glad when he was off.

"Great!" Winty squealed and trotted over to him.

"Yeah that theme really suited you" added his mentor Craigen. I rolled my eyes and watched the screen just in time to see Ceaser and Cato shake hands. He had already told me before the interview that he was doing the straight forward "I'll do my best" act. When he was done the crowd screamed for him.

"That was awesome Cato" I congratulated.

"You did good too" he added. "Ooh ooh Clove's on." He past me and walked back to the television. Clove look pretty in her cute dress and funny hairstyle. She looked way too innocent for her personality; she'd just seem like a sweet little girl if you hadn't seen the way she fiercely threw her knives in training. The interview went smoothly and before I knew it she was done.

Clove immediately ran to Cato but stumbled in her heels. He laughed and held her shoulders. They looked into each other's eyes just like they did in the restrooms at the training center. Not wanting to disturb their "moment" I awkwardly tip toed back to the screen, again. By the time they joined me it was up to district 12. I Growled as Katniss walked on stage but neither of them heard. Clove was smiling at the ground, her cheeks rosy red and Cato was trying to cover up something on his neck. I let it pass and ignored them.

"Ha-ha" I laughed "Did you see that! She is so pathetic!" Katniss stupidly didn't hear what Ceaser had said and said "What." I grumbled when nobody laughed with me. What love birds. Katniss answered the questions with no expression. So what she volunteered for her baby sister Prim, so what she got a score of 11 in the training center, she'll never get sponsors with an interview like that! I had complete confidence that she was going to crash and burn just like I'd hoped for. Pity those two love birds were too involved in their little "secret" to experience the joy I was going through. It didn't last long; Katniss stood up and started twirling round and round. Red flames started licking up the hem of her dress. Her stylist really out did himself on this one! I prayed that the she would burst into flames and turned to ash but of course that didn't happen. Now Cato and Clove were watching, mouths hanging open and eyes glued to the screen .Any one could see the fiery look of revenge swirling in their eyes. That was breaking point for Cato, he turned and stalked away. A few seconds later we heard a smash of most likely a plate from the buffet, then a petrifying roar. Peeta was up next to face the heat of the crowd. He walked in confident and smiling and I hated it. He started rambling on about roses and showers but I wasn't actually listening.

"So Peeta, got a girl back in district 1? Ceaser asked.

"Um no, no" Peeta replied. He looked kind of embarrassed at the question.

"Awe I don't believe it for one second" Ceaser denied "A boy with those looks!" I snorted at that statement, him handsome!

"Err well I have had a crush on this girl for like… forever" Peeta said. He ran a hand through his blonde smoothed hair. "Except I don't think she even noticed me until the reaping"

"Course she didn't" I mumbled. Clove breathed a laugh at my poor joke. The crowd awed for him.

"Well how about this" Ceaser leaned closer to Peeta "You win this and go back to district 12 then she'll just have to go out with you!"

"Well that's the problem" Peeta said, "This girl came with me." Just like at the parade, the audience went silent, and that's when I got pushed over the edge. I stormed over to the buffet and started chucking plates like Frisbees at the wall. I snarled as each one hit the wall and smashed into a million pieces. I was onto 15th plate when the peacekeepers came and escorted me back to my room. I didn't fight them I was too exhausted for that. I sat on my bed as thoughts whizzed through my head. Katniss and Peeta's performance, Cato and Clove's secret kiss, the games. I decided to go through them one at a time. I start with district 12, the only thing I can think is "Katniss Everdeen… it is officially on!" Next I think about Cato and Clove. It's a very hard topic to think about at a time like this. I really like Cato but he loves Clove. I completely ruled out the idea of killing her so Cato would be all mine, we were too close. I fell back into the soft cushions and sighed. Clove is my friend; if I really cared for her I'd let him go.


	5. Chapter 5

I woke up fully dressed on top of my bed. I must have fallen asleep while I was thinking. I sighed and rolled off the bed.

"Don't want to be late for the reaping!" I huffed sarcastically. I shuffled into the bathroom. Wow I look ugly. The special hair spray they put in my hair kept it nice and smooth but my face looks horrid. I guess I must have been crying because my eyes and nose were red and all my makeup was smudged. I stepped out of my clothes and into the shower. The worm water made me sigh; I love the showers in the capitol. Even though we have perfectly fine ones back home these ones can get just the right temperature and have a lovely range of fragrant soaps to choose from. Once I'm out and dried I feel fresh and ready to take on anything life chucks at me. I skip out the room in the boring training out fit and poison ring my Father gave me. As I'm about to leave I bump into Marvel. I give him a quick grin and open the door.

"Good luck today" He says and holds up his hand for a high five.

Since I was in such an impossibly joyful mood I said "You too" and slapped him on the hand. Unfortunately before I even got a foot out the door a bunch of peacekeepers came and ushered me back inside my flat.

"You not aloud to leave until you're told" one of them said and shut the door. I stepped back to avoid a slam in the face; how rude! I could hear Marvel chuckling behind me. I bit my finger in embarrassment; of course you couldn't leave now, any idiot would know that. Just as I was about to order some milk the door opened and the same peacekeepers came in.

"Follow us" one said and pushed us forward. They led us to a large hovercraft on the roof of the building where all the other tributes were. Before we could get on board we had to go through security for any hidden weapons. I quietly removed my removed my ring and placed it in my back pocket. I stiffly lifted my arms so they could check me. My Father was careful to make the ring plastic so it wouldn't be sensed by the metal detectors. They were just about to let me pass when a peacekeeper checked my pockets and obviously found it. I hung my head in shame as the examined it closely. They soon found the tiny little dart inside the gem of the ring and confiscate it. I sat on the hovercraft sadly. Marvel sits on the seat next to me and takes my hand.

"You can have mine" he offered and held out a thick gold chain. "My sister gave it to me" I looked at it longingly; it would be nice to have something to take into the arena. I refuse it. The hover craft lifts into the air with a steady jolt. I clasp the arms of the seat. Goodbye Panem.

I meet Cypress before I leave.

"Goodbye" I said a bit teary eyed. She didn't respond. I got my jacket from the hanger and stepped into the tube. It lifted me up into a clear plain of grass. I could see the Cornucopia and a lake, the rest was just forest from what I could see. A voice started the 60 second count down. All the tributes shuffled into a good running position either to or from the Cornucopia. I obviously ran to it. I scanned all the tributes, most kept their eyes on the closest backpack in front of them. My mouth fell open in shock when I noticed that Katniss had her eye on a bow and a sheath of arrows. That's my weapon I thought. I positioned myself for the arrows; I must get to them first! The buzzer started for us to start and I shot of the plate like a rocket and straight forward. I looked round but Katniss was nowhere to be seen. Probably chickened out at the last minute. I swooped down and grabbed up the bow hoisting the sheath onto my shoulder. A bit further was a dagger so I scooped that up as well. It had a sharp point good for stabbing. I headed towards a boy who was running away with a blue backpack. I caught up with him quickly. When the boy saw me he freaked and tried to run faster but stumbled and fell onto his knees. He dumped his bag and tried to get to his feet but I grabbed his shoulder so he fell onto his back. He lay there slightly stunned so he didn't have a chance before I took my knife and stabbed him in the gut. I took out the knife and stabbed repeatedly in the chest until I was certain he was dead. Now I was closer I could recognize the boy's face. I didn't know his name but I knew he was the tribute from district 8. My fingers fumbled to put the knife back into my pocket. I got up and searched for my next victim but was distracted by an ear piercing screech behind me. I whipped my head round and pulled my knife out but nobody came to attack me. Clove was running back to the cornucopia screeching and kicking up the dirt. Since there was nobody to kill because they had either fled or died in the blood bath I ran up to her.

"Hey Clove what's wrong?" I asked her.

"She got away" she snarled. I backed away when I saw her grip tighten around a lethal looking knife.

"Who"

"Katniss" she almost whispered.

"Who" asked Cato. He ran up to us with obvious concern for Clove on his face.

"Katniss" I answered.

"Come on guys the Cornucopia's all to us!" called Marvel.

"Guess what" Cato said.

"What?" we asked.

"I killed the guy who stole my knife" he said proudly. We all clapped in amusement. There were so many weapons to choose from inside the Cornucopia but I still stuck to the bow and arrows. Clove took the knives since she was the best at them, Marvel took the spear and Cato found himself a sword. I got a packet of dried fruit and lay in the warm sun.

"Glimmer wake up" Clove said and shook me awake.

"What are we doing?" I asked. All the careers were packing supplies and chatting.

"Hunting time" she whispered excitedly.

"Now? What time is it? I mumbled.

"There aren't any clocks here."

"Oh yeah." I got to my feet and stiffly stretched my legs. I grabbed an orange back pack and stuffed some water, food and the bow and arrows. The bitter cold of the night sent shivers down my spine as we trudged through the forest. Since it was the first night of the games we decided we would stay close to the cornucopia so not to get too lost.

"Look, look!" Clove hissed. She pointed towards a small gap in the trees where we could see a faint orange light and smoke in the black sky. Cato quickly took the lead and we all drew our weapons.

"Quiet!" I hissed to the others "I can hear something." As soon as they silenced I could hear it more clearly. There were foot steps to the right side of us and we swiftly changed course and followed the sound. As soon as the unknown tribute heard us they picked up their pace. We went into a sprint easily gaining on the tribute until he was visible enough to tell he was Peeta. Marvel grabbed his jacket and pulled him to the ground. Just as he was going to stab him in the gut Cato stopped him.

"Let him join us" he said. Peeta reared up on his hands and feet as Cato swaggered up to him. He stuck his hand out in welcome, Peeta eyed it suspiciously. A couple seconds passed before he took Cato's hand. He gave Peeta a strong jolt to help him up but let go so he fell back painfully into a tree.

We all laughed at him.

"Come on!" Marvel said and stabbed him lightly with his spear. Peeta scrambled to his feet and started backing away again but I got my arrows ready which made him freeze in his tracks.

"Peeta, would you mind coming with us?" Cato said almost nicely. He held out his hand again but Peeta got up himself.

Peeta walkedin the middle of us as we started following the smoke again. He looked nervously for a way out but soon found out escape was impossible.

"Get down!" I hissed as Neisse and I pushed him down. We were only about 10 meters away from our victim. As quiet as mice we stealthily crept up on the unaware girl. Soon we were standing right behind her. Cato cleared his throat comically to catch her attention. She gasped in shock to see us, Cato carefully past me his sword. I was a bit confused on why he didn't hand it to clove who was just on the other side of him but didn't hesitate to use it. She barely had time to scream before I stabbed her in the ribs. I pulled the knife out and she fell limp onto the ground. Surprisingly I didn't feel a twinge of guilt as I watched her ragged breathing slow to a halt. Cato took his sword back and cleaned it on his shirt.

"Let's go guys!" Marvel urged.

"Yeah before it starts stinking!" Clove added. We wrinkled our nose in disgust and moved on. I took the lead as we trudged through the bush.

"Wait!" Cato called. We all turned to look at him. "Shouldn't we have heard the cannon by now?" They all looked at me.

"What?" I said "You saw where I stuck her!"

"Some one should go back and check" Neisse said.

"No need!" I argued "She's either dead or in very, very bad condition." Next thing I knew we were in all rambling over each other trying to get a word in. With every second we got louder and louder. All of a sudden a voice rose above every one's else's.

"Quiet!" it screamed. We all turned to stare at Peeta. "I'll go and see to it myself she's dead!" His tone clearly told us he wanted to move on with the hunt. We looked at each other hesitantly, he could just run away. Clove slowly unzipped her jacket and took out a knife with a sharp pointed blade. Peeta snatched it and stumbled back the way we came. We watched as he disappeared out of sight.

"Why can't we just kill him?" I hissed impatiently.

"He might be able to help us finding… her" Cato said looking round wearily.

"Wish we knew how she got that 11!" Clove sighed.

"Yeah… maybe Peeta can tell us" Marvel said. Before we could continue Peeta came trudging back through the bushes.

"Is she dead?" we asked.

"She is now" He answered. Just as he finished we heard the familiar boom of the canon.

"Moving on?" Peeta said in the same impatient tone. We sighed and continued to walk. The only other victim we found that night was a boy trying hopelessly to climb a tree. Once he saw us it was too late because Clove had already thrown a knife between his eyes. Once we were finished I happily took the lead back to the Cornucopia. I was so tired. Before we went to sleep we arranged our weapons and set up tents next to the Cornucopia. All the supplies were left vulnerably inside of it. We'd figure it out tomorrow.


	6. Chapter 6

I woke up bright and early the next day. Before I woke the others I checked the Cornucopia, nothing seemed to be missing. I took a packet of crackers and a flask of water for breakfast. The others woke up soon after.

"So" I said "What's the plan for today?" I asked Cato.

"Well, I guess we'll just wait till dark to hunt" He answered. "So I guess we can just relax for the day."

"Cool!" I said satisfied with the decision. Though; the day was far from relaxing. Instead Neisse had figured out a plan to keep our food and supplies safe so we were breaking our back lifting packs of supplies and heavy weapons to make the shape of a pyramid. Neisse was from district 4, the district of technology so once we were finished stacking crates and baskets of stuff he got the discs in the arena and planted and remade them so that anyone who tried stealing the supplies would blow to smithereens. We were all a bit confused on why he was doing this at first until Neisse explained.

"Now the stuff is surrounded by bombs whoever comes and steps on it will blow up!" He said. "Though I made a sort of password so that we can get through but no other tributes." As soon as he finished he started doing a series of hops and jumps to the Pyramid.

"Tada!" he said taking an apple from the pile and hopping back to us.

"Good job!" Cato said happy with Neisse's work. After that we spent the rest of the day learning the complicated code again and again. The others were enthusiastic on learning more and having fun hopping back and forth. Instead I went back to the tent and had a nap.

Clove woke me up again that night for the hunt. I lazily gathered my stuff from the pyramid and followed them to the woods. We killed 5 more people and we almost got the girl called Rue while she was spying on us at the Cornucopia but she got away before I could shoot her. All I really wanted to do was settle down to sleep. The next day we actually got to relax. I spent the day sunbathing on the top of the Cornucopia while the others sharpened and cleaned their weapons. I got 3 sponsor gifts in that day containing a hair brush, some of the delicious district 2 cakes and blister cream. I guess my popularity was up. That night we took a weird track round the arena through swamp led by Cato.

"Why are we going through this mush?" I asked him.

"Because" was all he answered. I was going to whine some more before I heard someone scream. We all drew our swords and looked round but it was only Clove.

"There's a snake going up my leg!" She breathed. I quickly ran up and helped her carefully get it off. Cato just looked and kept walking. Once the snake was gone I asked her why Cato was acting so weird and angry.

"Oh it's nothing" she said quickly "I think he's just having a bad day that's all." I knew she wasn't telling me everything but I didn't say anything. Through the whole hunt Cato and Clove didn't say a word to each other at all. I knew something was wrong and I really hoped they'd stop holding a grudge against each other. Thanks to Cato we got lost and never found our way back to the Cornucopia so we had to camp out.

Clove shook me awake in the morning.

"Come on!" She shouted at me. I looked around me and saw mayhem. The gamekeepers had decided to set the place on fire! I jumped up and grabbed my bow and arrows before running away with the others. I left my bag behind so I run faster. We were fast enough to out run the huge wall of fire but the smoke soon got to us.

"Over there!" Marvel yelled and pointed to our right. I looked and saw a river about 100 meters away. We all turned course and headed full sprint towards it. We were about 50 meters away when something large and red hot came whizzing towards us. I swiftly ducked behind a tree before it hit me. I started running again but the but the fire balls kept coming. One of them landed right next to me burning my right hand. It was nothing serious but hurt like mad. Eventually I made it to the river. The others were already there bathing in the cool water. As far as I could see nobody was seriously injured. Just minor burns. We really wanted to keep resting but Cato insisted on continuing. The rest of us sighed and got to our feet. We walked across the rocks by the river with our weapons at the ready. It was a risk to be walking in a place so vulnerable. All of a sudden we heard footsteps and a loud splash from across the river. Cato took the lead and sprinted forward.

"There she is!" he called. I quickened my run till I was at the edge of the river. I was just in time to see Katniss's face before she disappeared into the woods. I crashed into the water and swam swiftly to the other side. I easily skipped through the forest until I could see her. It was easy to tell that she was seriously injured on the leg. A smile spread across my face; this was going to be easy. I grabbed an arrow from my sheath and placed it on the bow still running.

"We're coming!" I called menacingly. Katniss looked back at us. The obvious fear in her eye gave me motivation. I was just about to shoot her in the head when she did something unexpected. She made a sharp turn right and started climbing a tree. As soon as I reached her she was already so high.

"Get him Cato!" I encouraged as he too made his way up. Unfortunately he only got a few meters high before crashing back to the ground. He got up quickly and snarled at her. Katniss just smirked and climbed higher.

"I'll do it?" I said. They gave me a few words of encouragement as I gripped the branches and hoisted myself onto the first branch. I steadily got myself higher until the branches started thinning out. By then Katniss was wedged up in the really thin and weak branches. I would have kept going if the tree hadn't started making weird creaking noises. Carefully I started climbing down branch by branch. The others urged me to go higher but I continued going lower. On the last branch my foot slipped and I tumbled down to the ground. I fell flat on my back. A jarring pain went up my spine and winded me. Marvel immediately rushed over and knelt beside me. He tried to help me up but I pushed him away and got up myself. I grabbed my weapons and went back to look at Katniss.

"I'll try my bow!" I said. The careers parted so I could get a good aim. I let go of the string. I could tell she was scared. Unfortunately as the arrow came whizzing towards her Katniss ducked so it got lodged in a branch. I wouldn't have been so mad if she hadn't grabbed the arrow and started waving it teasingly in front of us. We all snarled up at her which just made her smile widen.

"I'll do it!" Cato said and took my bow. He clumsily positioned his weapons. I already knew he was going to miss before he even shot it. Katniss chuckled at his short tempered rage and hardly flinched when the arrow was shot. Clove stepped up and opened her jacket for her special throwing knives but Peeta stopped her.

"We'll just wait her out! She's got to come down some time!" He yelled. We all stared at him.

"What?" I mumbled.

"Fine!" Cato said. We all dumped our supplies and sat down. I followed Marvel to the lake with a few water skins. We walked in silence. I kicked the dirt and avoided eye contact. As soon as I saw the lake I ran over and splashed my face in the cool water. I started filling up the water skins and treating them with some sort of special liquid still not looking at marvel who was sitting next to me. I was on about my third when he cleared his throat for my attention.

"Err, um Glimmer?" He started awkwardly.

"Yes?" I replied still not looking at him. He didn't reply. "What!?" I said impatiently. I looked up and saw his face had gone red and he too was trying to avoid my eyes.

"I just wanted to say…" He trailed off into quiet mumbles.

"Marvel what!" I raised my voice.

"I loved you!" He almost shouted in reply. I looked right at him stunned and angry. He sighed and smiled happily.

"I love you" He repeated quietly.

"What the, Marvel!" I stuttered angrily. I rose up to my feet and he did too.

"Why would you say that?" I pretty much shouted.

"Because I do!" He said confused. He still had the dumb grin on his face which only infuriated me more.

"Well I don't!" I said. I gathered the water skins and half ran back to the tree.

"What?" Marvel replied. The smile disappeared from his face. He started to jog after me.

"Glimmer what's wrong?" He asked. He grabbed my shoulder and spun me around to face him. The sudden movement made me drop the water skins. Marvel let go of me and bent down to get them for me. Oh how I wish I had my bow and arrow right now. Instead of waiting for him a started running again. I could hear his confused calls behind my but didn't stop. I busted through the bushes back to our camp site. My head throbbed with exhaustion and anger. What was he thinking springing that on me? I knew I should've been used to it since so many boys have said that to me back in district 2 but this time it was different. A strange feeling rose in the pit of my stomach. The feeling made me want to smile and cry at the same time. I pushed it out of my mind and crawled into my sleeping bag. I was almost sleeping when somebody called my name.

"Hey glimmer" the voice said smoothly. I rolled over to see who it was.

"Hi Cato!" I sighed. He sat next to me and twirled his sword between his fingers. I closed my eyes again and relaxed my muscles. All of a sudden Cato wrapped his arm under my head and around my shoulder. My eyes flew open and I looked at him shocked. He just smiled calmly. I was sort of confused on why he didn't choose to sleep with Clove like he usually does but didn't bother asking. Suddenly I got a great idea. I looked up and searched the camp site. Sure enough Marvel was there sitting on a faraway log. I looked at him closer and smirked. He was trying his best not to look at us but just couldn't help but glance. His fists clenched when he saw me looking at him. I lay back smugly and cuddled into Cato's shoulder. Soon enough my joy turned into exhaustion and I fell asleep.

I woke up to shouts and screams. I was confused at first to what was happening. My head hit the ground as Cato took his arm away. All at once several sharp pains hit my arms. I got up defensively and grabbed my weapons. I soon realized what was happening. Katniss had dropped a nest of trackerjackers on our campsite causing chaos. Several other stings got into my neck and face. I yelled in pain and pulled them out. The trackerjackers were now swarming round me and blocked my vision. The crawled up my and legs stinging me all over. I screamed in pain and fell on my hands and knees. My voice broke into dry wheezes. I fell on my side and started squirming weakly. My breaths got short and painful. I knew I wasn't going to survive this. I think the trackerjackers knew that too. They retreated leaving me swollen and sore. I heard a noise near me. I couldn't turn my head to see who it was and my hearing was extremely damaged. A few seconds later Katniss staggered over to me. I could tell she was in a bad state too. I wanted to scream for the others to come and kill her but all that came out were small pathetic wheezes. She studied my face for a bit before getting to work. She started scratching and pulling at my fingers painfully. She was trying to get my bow! The worst part is all I could do was lie there worthlessly as she did it. All of a sudden I felt something hack at my hand. I realized she was trying to get my bow by breaking my fingers with a stone! She kept hacking away until they broke. What was wrong with her? Did she know the pain and agony she was putting me through!? I held my breath and waited for death to come. Once she got my bow she got to her feet and scrambled away. I counted the minutes waiting for something to happen. Soon enough somebody came stumbling back. At first I thought it was Katniss coming to take back more stuff but luckily it wasn't. Marvel ran over to me. He sat next to me and checked my pulse. He sighed and looked into my eyes. He drew a shaky breath and started to talk.

"Glimmer if you can hear me I just wanted to say… I love you" He sniffled and started stroking my face. The sad thing was my numb swollen cheeks couldn't feel a thing. He was so sweet and kind coming back here to comfort me. I bet neither Cato nor Couch would do that for me. A tear rolled down his cheek and fell on my face. Carefully and slowly he lent down and kissed me on the lips.

"I Love you" He whispered. More tears rolled down his cheeks and fell on my face. I love you too were my last thoughts before the peaceful darkness swept over me. I finally know. It was always Marvel. Never anyone else and I am grateful to finally know it.


End file.
